Offers of Home
by whiteraven1606
Summary: Tony offers Bruce something he hasn't had in a long time and then slowly includes the rest of the Avengers. And from there to family no one knew they had. Tony isn't sure what to call the resulting group of people calling his tower home. Clint simply calls it ohana. (Stargate: SG-1 and The Pretender characters appear in later chapters.)
1. Safe Haven, A Home

**A/N: This is listed as the Offers of Home series on AO3 with different names for each story. Here I'm going to call the whole thing Offers of Home in one big story. This is a crossover with The Pretender and Stargate: SG-1 in later parts.**

* * *

Tony had been happy to get Bruce to not run away for more than a week. After that the man seemed attached to the work he was doing in the labs and appeared to start unfurling from his protective postures.

Watching the small feed that showed him Bruce's lab, Tony smiled when Bruce yawned. Tony flicked his fingers to make the wireframe of the next suit fly away. Now would be a good time. Too tired to escape, too tired to get really upset. Tony nodded to himself as he stood up.

"JARVIS, be on ready to call Pepper if Bruce starts smashing things."

"Sir, do you think antagonizing Dr. Banner to be the best course of action?"

"It isn't antagonizing, JARVIS. I'm trying to help." Tony blinked as he stepped into his elevator. Help? What the hell was he thinking? Bruce wasn't going to want help from _him_. Tony sighed and stepped out onto Bruce's floor.

"Indeed, sir." JARVIS sounded even more bland than normal.

Tony frowned for a moment before stepping into Bruce's lab. "Hey."

Bruce looked up from his screens. "Hi, Tony." He blinked and rubbed his fingers across the bridge of his nose. "What pointy thing are you going to poke me with this time?"

Tony smiled grimly. "Nothing pointy. Look, I know you don't like talking about yourself." He stepped forward and snagged a stool to twirl on. He swung his legs back and forth and smiled as Bruce tried to hide his own smile. "It isn't bad to be all quiet, but I really need to know something. Well, not need, I want to know...Nevermind. Look..."

"What do you want to know?" Bruce took his glasses off and polished them with the hem of his shirt.

"I, ah." Tony spread his hands, palms towards Bruce. "I wanted to know why you thought a bullet would kill you if the fall from a helicopter into the pavement of Harlem wasn't enough damage to even slow you down."

"Him." Bruce settled his glasses back on his face. "The other guy, not me."

"Bullshit."

Bruce stared at him. "What?"

"Oh, that is utter bullshit." Tony slipped off the stool and moved to stand across Bruce's table from him. "You can say you are separate all you want, but we both know that it is you. More instinct and bellowing, but still you."

Shaking his head, Bruce started to back away.

Tony leaned forward. "You saved me from falling. Thing is, he'd not met me. You had. He hadn't. He didn't have a damn reason to catch me."

Bruce took a shuddery breath. "I did."

"Yes." Tony moved back to the stool and settled onto. "I think you don't remember everything you do while green because the structure of your brain changes too. The memories would get stored differently, or don't go to long term memory correctly after the change back." Tony shrugged. "Still thinking on that part."

"I didn't think it would kill me."

Tony cocked his head. "Yeah? Then why shoot yourself in the head?"

"I hoped." Bruce fiddled with the holographic screen between them. "I didn't think it would, but I hoped."

"Ah." Tony rubbed his hand over his hair. "Look, I don't think you need to worry so much now. I have plenty of room here and I don't want..."

Bruce smiled, the smile that Tony liked because Bruce meant it. "I'm not going to shoot myself, Tony. I like being here."

"You look..." Tony twiddled his fingers towards Bruce as he frowned. "And I don't want you thinking that you're going to be thrown in a cage at any moment."

"I can though." Bruce shrugged as he moved the screen from between them. "The instant I become more of a liability than an asset I'll be in a cage."

"I consider you more than an asset, Banner." Tony scratched his beard. "I've been...betrayed by friends before, so I'm not calling you that." Tony flapped his hand as Bruce started to say something. "I'd like to think I have enough money and there's that legion of lawyers I, well, Pepper can sic on anyone that even so much as tries to make you do anything you don't want to do."

"Tony..."

"I mean, you have every right to have a normal life when you aren't helping save the world."

"Tony!"

Tony blinked as he snapped his mouth closed.

Bruce reached across the table and set his hand on Tony's forearm. "Friends, Tony. I call us friends. And I have no idea why that word bothers you, but then I was in remote places for years, so when you are ready I'd like you to tell me." Bruce pulled back. "If you want."

Tony covered the reactor in his chest. "Yeah." He swallowed. "Yeah, okay." Tony started backing up towards the door. "You can come into my workshop when you get bored." Tony grinned at Bruce. "Thanks."

* * *

Bruce stared after Tony for several minutes. He pulled his screens back up and made sure everything was at a stopping point. "Um, JARVIS?"

"Yes, sir?"

"Can you tell me what happened to Tony's reactor that's made him nervous about having friends?"

There was a moment of silence and then Bruce's screen flared to life. It showed a still picture of Tony sprawled on his couch with a burn mark in his shirt, his reactor missing from his chest.

"This was done by a person Mr. Stark called his friend."

Bruce glanced up at the inflection JARVIS put on 'person.' "Turn it off, please." He put his hand over his chest as he forced himself to calm down. There was no fighting for him here, not now. Not after Tony had tried so hard to get Bruce to stay. "Was the person stopped?"

"Indeed. He was killed in the ensuing fight after Mr. Stark was able to get an older reactor into place."

Bruce nodded. He didn't know how Tony had managed because he'd looked half-dead in the photo. "Thanks, JARVIS." He stood and reached out to straighten some papers Tony's fidgeting had displaced.

He glanced around his lab one last time before going to see if Tony needed...food. Food would work as an excuse.

* * *

Tony sagged against the elevator wall and sighed. "JARVIS, if Bruce asks you can tell him about Obi."

"Are you very sure, sir?"

Tony staggered a bit he stepped from the elevator and went into his workshop. He patted Dum-E and settled on the couch with a tablet. He needed to sketch out the quiver idea he had for Clint before he forgot it.

He didn't look up when his door whooshed open because he was engrossed and didn't even notice it.

"Tony?"

He snapped his head up and flinched as Bruce startled back a step. "What? Sorry. Didn't expect you in here so soon." Tony blinked and frowned. "Are you okay?"

Bruce pulled on the hem of his shirt. "Mind if I sit?"

Tony moved over. "Not at all." He waited until Bruce got settled. "You have questions, don't you?"

"Not that need answers right now." Bruce pointed at Tony's tablet. "Is that Agent Barton's quiver?"

"Yeah." Tony lost himself in explaining how he thought he could give Clint more arrows without weighing him down too much.

"Have you eaten?"

Tony stopped in the middle of whatever he'd just been saying and frowned. "Have I what?"

"Eaten? You know, that thing you do when your stomach growls at you."

"I don't..." Tony glanced at the date and time on the corner of his tablet's screen. "Oh, damn."

Bruce stood up and held out his hand. "Come on. We'll eat and you can tell me the rest of the ideas you have for ammo-proofing Agent Barton."

* * *

Steve eased his way into Tony's shop and took the blanket from Dum-E, who whirred at him. "Shhh." He draped the blanket over Tony and then slipped Dr. Banner's shoes off his feet slowly. Steve turned to find Dum-E had a second blanket, so Steve spread that one over Banner.

As Steve slipped back out of the workshop, he patted Dum-E on its 'head'. He watched them sleep through the glass for several minutes before turning and nearly running over Ms. Potts. "Oh! I'm so sorry."

She jumped and moved to one side, even as Steve reached out to steady her. "No, no, it is fine." She glanced into Tony's workshop and then stopped to stare. "Holy shit."

Steve's eyebrows climbed. "Ma'am?"

She flicked her eyes to him and back to the sleeping figures on Tony's workshop couch. "He is sleeping."

"Yes?"

She grinned at him and started dragging him up the stairs. "JARVIS told me he ate dinner too. Eating and sleeping in the same day as him in his workshop and all without dire threats of bodily harm." She bounced a little as she flopped on a couch and pulled him down with her. "If you had anything to do with it, tell me now."

Steve averted his eyes as the television played one of the horrible scantily clad women ads. It was selling a car he thought. Or maybe just the tires. "I didn't do anything besides the blankets, ma'am."

"Pepper." She smacked him in the arm. "I've told you a million times now, call me Pepper."

He sighed. "Yes, Pepper." He'd slip up within three times of opening his mouth.

"I'm happy Tony has friends now. He didn't there for a long time."

Steve thought back to how at peace both of them had looked on that couch. "Dr. Banner hasn't had a friend to talk to either, from what I heard."

Pepper changed channels again. "You need friends too, Steve."

He watched the animated dragons flying around and his fingers itched for his sketchbook. "I have friends, ma'am." Okay, two times of opening his mouth, but still, he was getting better, maybe. "Pepper."

She smiled. "Yes, you do. Tony likes you, but can't figure out how to talk to you. He's hoping to talk the rest of the Avengers into staying here once Thor is back from Asgard."

Steve blinked. "All of us?"

Pepper shrugged. "He was just going to ask Bruce, but then he got to talking about how you were just drifting and needed a home. Then about how Barton and Natasha probably needed a home that wasn't just SHIELD. And soon he was designing floors for each of you."

He turned to stare at her.

She glanced at him and settled the channel to Modern Marvels. "So everyone has a place they can call their own."

He watched the television explain sugar production as he thought about having everyone together under the same roof. "We'll need more blankets. And pillows."

Pepper snorted. "That can be arranged."


	2. A Home, an Out

Clint shifted and resisted the urge to sigh. He was supposed to be thinking of nothing, that _had_ been the point of coming to hide in Stark's tower, but it wasn't helping. The results of his numerous evaluations were going to be gathered and given to Fury today. Clint checked the time. It had probably just happened. It'd take Fury about two seconds to decide to pull Clint from the Avengers and the field completely.

Clint peeked over the edge of his perch as a storm of cursing drifted up to him. "What are you doing?"

Tony lifted his head to look up at Clint. "Testing. What's it look like to you?"

Clint cocked his head. Tony was clinging to the smooth wall of the shaft with his toes and was roaming his hands over the surface of the wall. "Looks like you are defying gravity."

"Hah!" Tony planted his toes higher up and pushed himself up the wall. "I thought about just giving you repulsors, but it'd be too hard to balance yourself and shot arrows at the same time. So, then I got to thinking that you needed to be able to lean out from a wall and shot instead of that grappling hook thing that looked like it really hurt."

Clint blinked and reached down to haul Tony in as he got in range. "How did you see that? You were busy."

"Youtube. You wouldn't believe the amount of video that got taken." Tony flopped on his back in the bottom of Clint's nest and panted. He held up a tablet he pulled from under his shirt after a minute. "Here, see what you think."

Clint frowned as he found a quiver design on the tablet instead of what Tony had been babbling about. "What am I supposed to be looking at?"

Tony sat up and took the tablet back. "I have no idea how the hell you manage to climb up and down so much. That sucked." He tapped a few things and held the tablet back out. "The modifications."

Clint looked them over and stared. They had to be based off his current quiver. "How'd you...No. Not asking that." He poked at the screen and the arrow making unit burst into the component parts layout. "A quiver that makes arrows?"

"Well, more or less. It would house a 3-D printer and the raw materials in it, and then the shaft would be hardened as it was extruded..." Tony shook his head and pulled the tablet from Clint's hand. "Look that isn't important. It'll weigh about sixteen pounds until it started using the base material for arrows up enough to start becoming lighter." He grimaced. "We're stuck at an arrow every five seconds right now. It doesn't hardened properly without that time. Maybe two cores side by side..." He started tapping again.

Clint sat back and just watched Tony work. It was better than where his mind kept trying to make him go in his memories. And he wasn't going to do anything he didn't want to right now. Not even for his own thoughts. Tony started peeking at him from the corner of his eye and Clint frowned. "Why not just call me to come down?"

"You would have just ignored everyone." Tony shrugged and held the tablet back out. "What about now?"

Clint looked it over. "Just the arrows? Arrowheads?"

Tony snatched the tablet back. "You'd have to settle for a selection of narrow and broad. I don't know what you'd call them. Barbed? I think we can do those too. The fancy stuff you'd have to load beforehand."

"Stark, what are you doing this for? I'm going to be pulled permanently anyway."

That didn't even faze the man. Tony flicked something on the tablet screen. "Then you'll come work for me and we'll make you a consultant Avenger. I don't care."

Clint gaped at him. He pulled the tablet away from Tony and leaned forward. "I killed people! They aren't going to just write that off in a cost-benefit kind of way."

Tony folded his arms and raised his chin just a little. "You?" He narrowed his eyes. "You didn't do anything except get too close to Loki while trying to stop him."

Clint flinched and pushed himself back against the wall of his nest with his foot. "Who the hell do you think attacked the Helicarrier? Someone else with an explosive arrowhead and a group of killers?"

"Loki." Tony stared at Clint gaping at him for a moment. "Look, you've heard of botnets before, right?"

Snapping his mouth closed with a click of teeth, Clint nodded.

Tony brightened. "Are the infected computers' owners to blame if the botnet attacks a bank? Did the owner of the infected computer mean to attack the bank?"

"Well, no..."

"No. So, they needed a virus wiper or better defences, but Loki...He had something that is the best encryption cracker ever. He got past your firewalls and spread a virus that turned you into a botnet computer. You were just the owner." Tony picked at his t-shirt where the glow of the arc reactor showed through. "You didn't have a say." He looked up at Clint. "He didn't give you a chance to even defy him. Don't give me fucking crap that _you_ did all that."

Clint blinked as he tried to control his suddenly uneven breathing. "Huh."

"You need to thank Bruce. He's the reason I think we can even manage this in under thirty pounds. Also, you need to try these gecko toe shoes and see if you can lean away from a wall in them. I don't have good enough balance to feel confident I won't land on my head. My brain gets enough abuse without just handing it chances." Tony grinned and looked over the side of the nest. He frowned. "Uhm. How do I get down?"

Clint burst into laughter. If it had a slight hysterical edge to it, Tony was too busy bitching about not bringing his suit to comment.

* * *

Tony sighed as he flopped down next to Bruce on the couch. Steve was asleep with a sketchbook falling from his lap in the armchair across the room. "He's out?"

Bruce glanced up and pushed his glass further up on his nose. "Looks like it. He's not been sleeping well if the number of times we run across each other in the kitchen at night is any indication."

"Huh." Tony rubbed at his ribs where he'd pissed off things getting up to Clint's nest. "Fury says Barton isn't allowed to go to the memorials they are going to start having at the end of the week."

Bruce frowned and looked back down at the journal he was reading. "Maybe that would be better?"

"How exactly is it better? Barton needs to be able to grieve, doesn't he? Mental health and all that shit." Tony pushed his tablet onto Bruce's scientific journal. "Here. See what he did to the balance. I don't know that I can fit in fletchings without fucking the weight distribution in the middle of the lifecycle of the quiver."

Bruce sighed and extracted his journal from under the tablet. He marked his place, sat the journal off to the side, and looked over the quiver's design. "Everyone else needs to grieve too, Tony."

With a grunt, Tony got up to make himself a drink. He didn't bother to ask if Bruce wanted one. Tony looked at Steve as he came back over to sit next to Bruce again. "It amazes me that he can sleep through anything that doesn't say his name or shoot at him."

"That's what soldiers get good at. Or they never sleep." Bruce frowned. "What are you planning, Tony?"

Tony quit tapping the edge of his arc reactor with his thumb. "Planning? Me? Nothing. I'm good."

Bruce snorted and modified the weight distribution. "What about this?"

Making grabby hands at the tablet, Tony grinned as he looked over the new modifications. "That might work." He looked up at Bruce. "What if Barton could be there, but no one else knew?"

"What are you thinking?"

"He really just needs to see it, right? Why not just put him up high, with comms and leave his side on mute. He could text us anything he needed."

"Huh." Bruce thought about it. "Someone would notice him eventually."

"Cloaking panel." Tony grinned. "I'll see if I can get Fury to hate my other idea enough to agree to this as the compromise."

Bruce blinked. "I don't even want to know what your other idea is."

Tony stood up as his phone beeped at him. "That reminds me. Gotta work on something. Later."

* * *

Watching him go, Bruce missed Steve moving and jumped as Steve took the tablet from him.

"Sorry, Dr. Banner."

Bruce controlled his breathing and glanced at Steve, who was looking at the quiver design. He knew better than to try to tell Steve not to apologize for startling him. "You seem more at ease with tablets." He gestured towards Steve's hands.

"Yes. Pepper showed me you can sketch with them and it'll save everything in order so you can undo it if you foul up." Steve smiled. "JARVIS was kind enough to print some of them for me."

Bruce smiled. "Tony thinks he needs to make everyone's equipment better."

Steve tilted the tablet. "Howard used to be eager about everything he made. He just wanted someone to like it. To like him because of it."

"Don't tell Tony that."

With a frown, Steve handed the tablet back. "He doesn't want to talk to me, so I doubt I'll get the chance. Even if I didn't know he hates Howard."

Bruce nodded towards the armchair. "Is that why you were pretending to sleep?"

Steve sighed. "Thanks for not finking on me. I just didn't feel like a fight, you know?"

With a small smile, Bruce picked up his journal. "I do know."

* * *

Tony took his time with the modifications to the service elevator shaft. He needed to be sure it'd work like he envisioned. The blast doors at the bottom of the shaft had been the bitchy part. With one last check that everything was going to do what he intended, Tony went looking for Barton.

"You liking it up there?" Tony settled onto a bar chair and looked up at Clint.

"You modded these in didn't you?" Clint swung down from the small corner perch and settled on the counter near Tony.

"Well, I might have decided the more air shafts supporting heavier weight and elevated nests in the tower the more at home you and Romanoff will feel." Tony shrugged as he reached for a bottle of scotch. "I have a job for you. Well, more like something to remember to do if we ever get attacked by the Army."

"What?" Clint snagged the bottle from Tony's hand. "Attacked?"

Tony pulled on the bottle until Clint relinquished it. "I am in the middle of a Congressional level argument about Bruce with an bunch of Army assholes. If I lose, which I won't, mind you..." Tony poured himself a drink. "In case something happens I need you to get Bruce out." Tony threw back his drink and smacked his lips as he stood up. "I'll show you where I installed a Hulk-sized escape route."

"Why me?" Clint followed because it was easier than arguing with Stark about anything.

Tony flicked a panel open and pushed a sequence of buttons. "I know you'll go because I asked you to make sure he gets out safely. That he isn't made to lose his choices." The wall beside Tony opened up.

Clint blinked several times before leaning out to look down the shaft Tony had revealed. "Shit."

"Used to be a service elevator. Well, still is, sort of. In an emergency the car will fold into the side of the shaft and leave you guys plenty of room to go down." Tony looked it over before smacking a button to close it up. "The only floors with access in an emergency are whichever floors you and Bruce are on."

"Even if the power is out?"

Tony shrugged. "Bio-locks. They have local power so they'll open once or twice without any power from the main lines. Same goes for the elevator car for folding up."

Clint looked from the wall, with a picture hanging there sedately, back to Tony who was fidgeting with the panel cover. "I'd be honored to keep him safe for you."

Tony smiled and it lit everything up like the sun coming out from behind a cloud. "Excellent. Wait until I tell Bruce about the whole thing." Tony turned and headed down the hall.

Clint hurried after him. "Wait! You mean you haven't _told_ him anything?"

* * *

Bruce leaned out to look down what usually was an elevator shaft. "I don't know about this, Tony."

"Sure you do." Tony poked him in the side. "Practice drills. You understand the need to be prepared. I know Pepper will make the Army Generals cry for their mommies, but in the meantime I'd like to know that this really will work."

Clint slapped Tony on the shoulder. "Way to be reassuring there, Stark." He leaned against the wall on the other side of Bruce from Tony. "Think of it as a mini-vacation, Doc."

Bruce sighed. "That is even worse." He looked down again. "I don't see why you think bringing the other guy out just for this is a good idea."

"Seriously? Testing that the blast doors at the bottom of the shaft will close after the Hulk actually requires him to be there."

"No. Find some other way." Bruce shook his head and starting back up.

Tony turned and he looked like someone had kicked him. "Look, five minutes. Okay? I just need to be certain this will work."

Bruce took his glasses off and stared down at them for several long moments. "You are planning something, Tony."

"Aren't I always?" Tony grinned his for-the-media smile and pointed at them both.

Patting Bruce on the arm, Clint motioned towards the elevator shaft. "I'll follow you."

Bruce started shaking his head again. "Oh, no. No. Tony, I can't just...No." He backed up to the opposite wall and slid down to sit on the floor. "No."

Tony touched a control and the panel slid shut. "Okay, okay." He crouched in front of Bruce. "I'm not trying to make you. It can wait for an actual emergency to test it, Bruce." He stood back up and sighed as he looked to the closed wall panel then down at Bruce. "Sorry."

* * *

Clint watched silently as Tony walked away. Then he settled onto the floor across from Bruce. "He is trying to help you."

Bruce took a deep breathe. "I know that. Don't you think I know that?" He leaned his head back. "Agent Romanoff was nearly killed because she made the other guy mad. You just want to follow him into an enclosed space?"

Clint shrugged. "I told Tony I'd make sure you got out safely. He needs that certainty." Clint jerked his thumb over his shoulder towards the now hidden elevator shaft. "If this is what makes him feel safer than we might as well live with it."

"Way to be reassuring, Agent Barton."

"Clint." He held out his hand. "My name is Clint."

Bruce stared at Clint's hand and then up at his face. "Huh." They shook hands. "Clint."

"Thanks, Doc." He stretched his legs out. "If it makes you feel better I think Stark is trying to convince me he trusts me after the whole thing with Loki."

"Not really feeling better, no." Bruce rubbed at his temples. "What do you remember about that?"

Clint took a ragged breath. "I was locked in." He rubbed the callouses on his normal pull hand. "You've read about the people who can't do anything but blink their eyes? They are in there, but stuck?"

Bruce nodded.

"I couldn't even blink." He closed his eyes. "I got a bunch of people killed and Stark says it wasn't my fault because I was the owner of a computer in a botnet."

"Huh." Bruce touched the bottom of Clint's foot with his toe. "Maybe you should listen to him. Tony's a smart guy sometimes."

Clint snorted. "Yeah. You should listen to him sometimes too."

Bruce smiled faintly. "Yeah, sometimes."


	3. An Out, a Sanctuary

Tony settled down on the floor under the chosen air vent. "I get why you are scared of Bruce, but hiding isn't going to make it better."

From the vent came a sigh and then it popped out and Natasha was staring down at him. "What did you promise JARVIS to get him to tell you where I was?"

Tony stood up as she swung herself out of the vent. "Me? Bribe my own AI? No need." He gestured to the air vent. "I just had this whole section of ducts reinforced."

She nodded as though she believed him and crossed her arms. "What do you want, Stark?"

"You heard me." Tony crossed his arms to match her. "I've never thought you a coward, since you aren't, but you need to think about learning to spend time in the same room as Bruce." He held up one hand with his forefinger and thumb slightly apart. "Short periods to start. Build up from there."

"It isn't an allergy I need to build resistance to."

Tony nodded. "I know that. I'm just saying that he'll never get to like you if you don't interact. And if Bruce doesn't like you neither will the Hulk."

Natasha narrowed her eyes at him. "I don't need the Hulk to like me."

"It'd be easier on everyone if he did."

She rolled her eyes. "There are a lot of things that would be easier that I'm not going to do, Stark."

He grinned at her. "Figured you'd say that." He dropped his arms and started to walk away.

She frowned at his back. "Is that it? You aren't going to argue with me?"

He turned so he was walking backwards. "Why should I argue? No one can make you do anything, Agent Romanoff." He turned back around and gave a little wave. "Have fun in the ducts."

* * *

Bruce looked up as Steve stepped into his lab. "Captain, what do you need?"

Steve tapped his sketchbook on the edge of the table. "Steve, not Captain, please."

"Alright." Bruce went back to what he was working on. "You wanted something?"

"I, well, I sort of thought that everyone could start eating lunch together. It'd be a good way to get to know each other."

Bruce smiled. "And to make sure Tony eats, right?"

"Well, you too, Doctor Banner."

"Just call me Bruce." With a sigh, Bruce took his glasses off and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I am capable of remembering to eat, unlike Tony."

Steve flopped his sketchbook down. "I need to learn modern terms and the best way to get them is normal conversation. More people, the more talking that I can listen to. Noon sound okay?"

Bruce put his glasses back on and tapped a finger tip on Steve's sketchbook. "You've been dragging this everywhere lately. Find anything interesting to draw?"

Steve shrugged. "They aren't that good."

With a flick, Bruce flipped open the book. The page he opened it to showed a intricate pencil drawing of Bruce and Tony asleep on the couch in Tony's workshop. "So that's how my shoes got off me." He looked up at Steve as he ducked his head. "Hey, Cap, thanks for the blanket too."

Steve grinned. "You're welcome." He turned the page to show the same scene, but shadowed behind Bruce was a sleeping Hulk and behind Tony the Iron Man powered down. "I hope you don't mind."

Bruce touched the picture on the hair of the Hulk. "No. Not really." He looked up at Steve. "If you really want awkward lunches with the very real possibility of erupting into violence, fine. I'll come. Noon in which kitchen?"

Steve blinked. "Uh...The one in the middle of the floors Tony has given us I suppose. The blue one." He picked up his sketchbook and closed it. "I know we haven't really talked much, but I wanted to make sure you knew that I admire you."

"What?" Bruce stared at him.

"You came back to help when we needed you." Steve smiled. "You could have kept away and you didn't do that."

Bruce watched him walk out. "Huh." Looking up at the noise above him, Bruce threw a pen at the air vent cover. "Shut up, Barton."

Clint pulled the vent loose and stuck his head out. "He's right though. You chose to help."

Bruce sighed. "I know. Doesn't mean he should admire me for it." He glanced up at Clint. "Get down from there. Lunch is in five minutes."

* * *

Natasha stood just outside of the kitchen door of the kitchen Captain Rogers had asked her to report to at noon. She could get near Dr. Banner. It wasn't a problem. Lunch would be a mass of Tony talking, then Tony and Captain Rogers arguing, then everyone fighting, and she'd be able to slip away in the chaos. She took a controlled breath and pushed the door open slightly.

"...And the way I see it is that Barton can be here..." There was a tap noise on tile. "...and no one will be able to see him with a single cloaking panel in place here..."

Natasha stepped inside and was pleased when Clint's eyes flicked up to met hers. He was getting better about eye contact this week. They hadn't yet heard what had been decided about him. Fury would have only gotten the reports this morning. It would take him some time to devise how to keep Clint in his position without Coulson to word the memo for him.

She slipped into the empty seat on the end away from Dr. Banner and looked their plans over. "Clint is stuck if they congregate outside the front doors afterwards, which will happen."

Clint shrugged. "I can wait them out. I just want to be there." He clenched and unclenched his hand.

She watched that carefully. He'd started doing that since she had freed him from Loki's control. It was slightly worrying. "We're all going."

Banner looked up at her and watched her silently. She didn't like it, but there wasn't anything to be done about it right now.

Tony waved the wireframe layout away. "That's settled then. We all go. Do we know yet if Thor's going to be able to get back down here?"

They all looked to her. She tilted her head. "No idea."

With a nod, Tony pushed a plate towards her. "Didn't think so, myself. Here, food. Steve seems to think we'll starve."

Steve grimaced and Natasha kicked him lightly under the table. He looked at her and she leaned forward enough to show a hint of her cleavage. "He's trying to learn, Stark. Even you can appreciate that."

"Learn?" Tony blinked and looked around at them, then at Steve. "What? Slang? Or how people act nowadays? 'Cause I've got to tell you this bunch..." He twirled his finger to include everyone, "Isn't exactly normal."

Steve's lips thinned. "I wasn't asking for normal. I just wanted a chance to talk to everyone. To adjust to..." He trailed off as his shoulders slumped.

Natasha forced herself not to roll her eyes and kicked Clint, who didn't flinch, but started glaring at her. She waited a moment for him to catch up, but when he didn't she sighed. "What about movies?"

They all stared at her. Then she did roll her eyes.

"They are a way to adjust to a culture you feel out of place in."

Banner cocked his head and it was all Natasha could do not to track his movements more blatantly.

"Oh, my God." Tony turned his head towards Steve. "You haven't seen _Star Wars_, have you?"

* * *

Clint poked Natasha in the ribs. "Totally your fault."

She surveyed the fallen. Bruce between Tony and Steve, all three snoring at various volumes. Popcorn spilled on the floor. Her and Clint sitting on the edge of the corner perch, pressed close to keep from pushing each other off. "I did good."

He smiled down at their teammates. "Yeah."

They watched the others snore until suddenly Bruce stiffened. Clint could see where it was headed in a split second. "Nat, in the vents. Now."

She went as he dropped down from their perch. Clint had just enough time to pull Stark out from under Banner's arm as Bruce woke screaming into a transformation.

Stark flailed and then blinked at the nosies from the couch. "Shit. Damn it." Tony scrambled to his feet and pulled Clint along with him back against a wall. "Guess we get to test it after all."

"Jesus, Stark." Clint watched Steve scramble backwards across the floor away from the Hulk as he roared and panted. Then the Hulk was up and backing away from them towards the door.

"Hey, Hulk."

The Hulk turned his head and roared at them. Stark smiled back and Clint wanted very badly to hit the man.

"Hi there, Big Guy. I'm Tony. I'm usually in the suit when you see me."

"Spaceman." The Hulk's breathing started to slow down.

Tony practically beamed. "Yeah, well, not exactly..." Clint poked him and Tony absently batted at him. "Nevermind. Could you do something for me?"

The massive brow wrinkled and the Hulk blinked slow. "What?"

"The lady that upset you. The redhead. Could you be nice to her?" Tony paused as the Hulk shifted from foot to foot. "I mean, I know she lied to you and upset you with the surrounded by soldiers thing. Plus there was that big cage issue..."

Clint stared at the side of Tony's head and willed him to shut up before the Hulk killed them both.

"She lied to me too. And poked me in the neck with a needle. It hurt." Tony spread his hands as the Hulk started to ball up his fists. "But, see...Here's the thing. She did everything because she was ordered to do it. She's actually really cool. Her name is Natasha. You can call her Black Widow."

The Hulk huffed and turned away. He ducked his head to get out of the door and turned left.

"You are insane."

Tony turned towards him and smiled. "He likes me."

Clint rolled his eyes. "Yeah, got that part." He stuck his head out into the hallway. "Hulk! Tony made something for you!"

There was a crunching noise and from around the corner came the Hulk, rumbling low in his throat.

Clint moved fast and slapped the control Tony had showed him. "Look, all yours!"

The Hulk leaned out over the shaft to look down. Clint heard Steve say something about Tony not being the craziest one here just before the Hulk scooped Clint up and stepped off into the empty air of the elevator shaft.

* * *

Tony leaned out to look down the shaft with Steve holding onto the back of his shirt, the mother hen. "Blast doors closed properly. That's good."

"Do you think Agent Barton is alright?"

"Sure. Bruce likes him. It is just Natasha we need to work on. And maybe Thor. Depends on how much lightning Thor calls down on him, I think."

"Right." Steve pulled Tony back away from the shaft. "I thought the doors were supposed to close behind them and stay closed."

"Test run. Have to be able to see that it actually will work." Tony poked at a wall panel. "Let's see...JARVIS? Pull up the video feed to the Hulk level, would you?"

"Of course, sir."

The panel came to life, showing a crisp video of a hallway with the Hulk sitting and following Clint's movements.

"Is that yoga?" Tony glanced at Steve, who shrugged.

"I don't know what yoga is."

Natasha appeared beside them and Tony forced himself not to jump. "That's yoga. I taught Clint."

"And now he's teaching the Hulk." Tony smiled. "JARVIS make sure to save this. I want to be able to show Bruce later."

"Very well, sir."

* * *

Clint flopped down onto Tony's workshop couch. "He's damn loud."

Tony jumped and cursed. "Dammit, Barton. You are too damn quiet." He turned and looked Clint over. "You don't look flattened."

He ran his fingers through his hair. "No. He was more scared than anything. I'm assuming nightmare since he was asleep as it started."

"Uh huh." Tony glanced at his work and then sighed. "You saw the escape holes, right?"

"I did. Nearly too small for Cap." Clint leaned his head back against the couch. "When did you start building down there? It didn't smell new."

"Smell new?" Tony made a face and flicked a wireframe of the next suit into existence to fiddle with.

"New construction in enclosed spaces have a smell. This doesn't."

"New car smell for cement. Huh. Something to remember." Tony twirled the suit design and noted a change to a leg panel. He watched the resulting calculations. "Right after I told General Ross he was a stupid scheming idiot who should have stayed in bed that morning."

"This the same guy you are arguing with about Banner now?"

Tony shrugged. "Not just me. Ross' daughter Betty is throwing a hissy fit right alongside Pepper." He looked up again. "Where'd Bruce get to?"

Clint breathed out and closed his eyes. "Poured him into bed." He fell asleep between one breath and then next.

Tony smiled softly and tried not to laugh out loud as Dum-E moved in with a blanket. He started looking for his phone. He totally needed a picture of this.


	4. A Sanctuary, a Room

Natasha woke up and looked at Clint curled up in the far corner of the room. She remembered waking up when he had come in, and then she had gone back to sleep after he'd settled down into the corner. Sitting up, Natasha secured her closest weapons and picked up her tablet.

Checking the messages she tilted her head as she read the memo for Clint's reinstatement. It read oddly. She glanced over at Clint, sitting upright, his head leaned back, barely snoring and frowned.

She needed to find Stark.

* * *

Tony sighed and he shoved away the wireframe for a new weapon for Natasha. He'd need her input before he could be sure enough for a production run. And she'd give him crap about it, he was certain. He checked the clock because Tony knew today was the memorials and if he was late everyone would be riding his ass about it.

Natasha appeared at his elbow, he could swear right out of thin air.

"Dammit! Noise! Just a little. Something, anything, I beg of you." He sucked on the finger he'd smashed when he'd flinched away from her.

"I need you to check on something."

He blinked. "What? Why?" He looked at her carefully. "You look worried. That can't be good. Is it the end of the world? Again?"

She sat a tablet down next to him. "You program this to do anything I would disapprove of at all and I will kill you, Stark."

He poked at the edge of the tablet without picking it up. "What are you so..." He stopped talking as he read the memo on the screen. "So? This is good isn't it?"

"Read it again."

He squinted at her and mentally shrugged as he read it over again. "Okay. I'm missing something. Completely over my head. It is a simple restatement memo. Boring." He looked at her frowning at him. "Okay. Enlighten me, Agent Romanoff."

"It isn't Fury's writing. Or Hill's for that matter." She made a face. "If I had to say I'd tell you it was the way Agent Coulson would word it."

Tony blinked. "Okay." He looked at her and tilted his head. "You do know he died, right? We did get around to telling you that, didn't we?"

Natasha rolled her eyes. "Yes, you asshole." She put her hands on the edge of his table and leaned on them for a moment. "Just check for a death certificate for me. And see that the person who signed it exists and is real. Alright?"

He raised his eyebrows. "Sure, sure. No problem." He flicked a control to get JARVIS to start checking it for him. "I'll get right on it." He picked up a pen to tap and used it to very lightly poke the back of her closer forearm. "You okay?"

"Yes." She batted the pen away and pointed at him. "Get cleaned up. You had better be ready in two hours."

He mock saluted just to give her something to be annoyed about. "Yes, _ma'am_."

She shook her head as she silently faded away.

He stared down at the memo until the tablet shut its screen off. "Wishful thinking."

* * *

Bruce stared at Tony. "You have to be kidding me."

Tony shrugged. "No. Just figured it'd be easier."

He stroked the sleeve of the suit in front of him. "Tony this has to be expensive."

"Doesn't matter." Tony flung his arms wide. "Rich, remember?" He pointed at the shirts. "I suggest the gray one with the blue undertone." He headed for the door. "Hurry up or Natasha will kill me for both of us being late."

Bruce frowned and glanced up at the air vents. "Right. Okay then."

* * *

Steve frowned as Tony pulled the shirt he'd be about to put on right out of his hands. "Tony."

"No, no. Not that. Horrible." Tony dropped a bag to sit on the end of the bed. "Wear this and don't argue." He headed for the door and then stopped abruptly. "Did anyone silence your phone?"

Steve looked up from the bag. "It can be silent?"

Tony sighed. "We need to start teaching you this stuff. Where's your phone?"

He got it and held it out to Tony.

"Okay, see this button? This will make it silent, except for any alarms you've got set."

Steve bit his tongue so he would not mention he hadn't known it could make alarms. "Okay, so it'll be silent now?"

"Until you change it."

With a nod, Steve took the phone from Tony's hand. "Thanks, Tony."

Tony looked at him from the corner of his eye and then lifted his head with a fake smile. "Hurry up and get dressed, Cap."

Steve looked down at the phone once Tony was gone. "I wonder if he realizes how much like Howard he sometimes is."

* * *

Clint tried to relax his shoulders as people filled the church. His perch was secure, the cloaking panel under and in front of him kept him out of sight. He listened to Stark bitch about the hour it had taken them to make it all of six blocks from the Tower to the church.

He sent a text to ask who had leaked it to the public.

"The open comm is on Steve." Natasha sounded annoyed. "No one. Fury wanted people to know who was lost to save them."

Clint silently applauded the move. Everyone he'd caused the death of should be remembered. Especially by people that didn't have a clue. He could tell when they got out of Tony's limo because the crowds went nuts. He peeked out the broken window behind him and watched as they started to come up the steps.

There was a thunderclap and everyone flinched as a huge bolt of light smacked into the pavement. Thor stepped from the newly engraved knotwork circle to embrace Tony and clap Steve on the shoulder.

"Oh, and Thor decided to show up." Tony sounded like he'd been expecting it.

"Where is our shield brother?" Thor glanced around and then up and Clint thought he could tell when Thor spotted him.

Natasha went up on her tiptoes and said something low enough to not be picked up by the comm Steve had. Thor frowned, nodded, and then dropped his eyes from Clint's window.

Tony ushered them forward and Clint turned to watch them take their seats inside.

The services were solemn and Clint said silent apologies to each one as their names were read. Clint stared out over the crowd as the list went on. He saw a flinch on the next to the last row and frowned because that was weird.

Now that his attention was caught he leaned forward a little to get a better view of the person. Only the guy stood up and moved down the row. Clint could tell he was excusing himself, but couldn't hear from where he was. Steve's comms were picking up Tony's button pushing, though. Clint started to look back to the front when the man turned at the end of the pew.

Clint gasped and fumbled his phone. He scrambled up and out through his broken window and around the corner to the nearest drainpipe. People on the ground didn't seem to notice him, which was just as well. He hit the ground and typed out a text. The guy was moving stiffly, but purposefully through the crowd.

With a flick of his hand, Clint borrowed a ball cap and pulled into his head as he followed.

"What do you mean you think you saw _who_?" It was a harsh whisper of Natasha's voice over the comms.

"I said it already today, I'll say it again: Dead." Tony's voice was slightly louder.

They were moving, he could hear footsteps, Tony's and Bruce's from the sound of it. Clint flipped his side of the comm from mute as the guy started down the stairs into a subway station.

"I'm going to have to go underground." He rattled off the station and then pushed past people suddenly coming up and out. Stupid trains, always just at the wrong damn time. He heard screaming behind him and Clint hit the platform just in time to see the guy drop down onto the tracks. Then there was a flash of color as the Hulk slid past him on the tile. "Fuck."

* * *

Phil slipped into an emergency door alcove just past the end of the platform and hoped to hell he'd lost Barton. He'd not been cleared to tell them yet. He breathed heavily as his chest protested all the sudden moving around. Jumping had probably been really stupid.

There was a roar and then a loud crunch on the tracks. Phil thumped his head back against the door behind him as he closed his eyes.

When he opened them he was being stared at by the Hulk.

"Oh." He smiled weakly. "Hello."

The Hulk frowned and looked him over. "Broken?"

"Right now, just a little bit. Yes." Phil could hear the scramble on the platform.

So could the Hulk, he turned his head and roared back up the tracks. Phil winced. He was going to have to remember ear plugs in the future.

"He's my friend!" Clint was scrambling down the side of the platform. "Don't hurt him, please!"

Phil's world went wonky and he closed his eyes against the sudden onslaught of moving lights and air rushing past his face.

* * *

Tony dug in his pocket for his phone as he followed in the wake of everyone else's running. He got the phone up to his ear as he hit the stairs for the subway. "JARVIS, turn on the Hulk's homing beacon...Yes, yes. I know we haven't tested it, but we're testing it now. Hurry up."

He slipped the phone back into his pocket as he hit the bottom of the stairs and everyone was gathered at the edge of the platform. "Really, are you sure, Clint?"

Clint's worried face popped up over the edge of the platform. "Maybe. I didn't get a look at his face. He moved right though. And then..." He flapped a hand down the tunnel. "Hulk took him and went that way."

Tony nodded. "Okay. Everyone back home." He clapped his hands together and then made shooing motions at them. "Come on, hurry up."

They all stared at him.

Steve tilted his head towards the tunnel. "Tony, we need to go after them."

Tony gave his I-think-you-are-being-purposefully-slow smile. "Yeah. And they are back home by now. It's only a few blocks." He gestured to the subway. "There's no way in hell I'm walking all the way there through the tunnels." He looked down at his rumpled suit. "I ruin another suit and Pepper will kill me."

Natasha glared at him as she came to a stop in front of him. "Explain what you mean." She poked him in the only sore spot he still had on his ribs. "Now."

"Let's walk and talk." He turned and headed up the stairs. They scrambled after him in a rush of arguments and questions.

* * *

The Hulk found the good hallway and the humming sound died away. There was an open doorway there hadn't been last time he'd been there and he looked it over carefully.

"Oh, pillows. That'd be nice."

He looked down at the small man in his hold. He wasn't breathing right. The Hulk cautiously stepped into the room. Everything was the right size. He settled the small man onto a pile of pillows and watched him to see if it would fix the breathing.

"Hey there...Hulk. I'm...Agent Coulson."

He narrowed his eyes as the Agent held out his tiny hand. He thought for a while. "Army?"

Coulson's eyebrows shot up. "No." He smiled and eased down into the pillows more. "Marines."

The Hulk didn't remember Marines. He gently took the small hand in between his finger and thumb and they shook. "Friend."

"Yes." Coulson pressed his hand to his chest. "I think I should have stayed in bed today."

There was a whirring noise and he spun around to find a moving picture of the Spaceman in front of him.

"Okay. Hi, Big Guy!" The screen brightened. "Don't worry, I'm not trapped in the screen. Or maybe that isn't something that'd confuse you. I should ask Bruce..." The Spaceman's attention snapped back to him. "Nevermind. Hello, again. This is your room."

He blinked and sat down next to Coulson to watch the Spaceman talk.

"Not anyone else's. And certainly not a cage. This room has a door you can control, Big Guy. There should be a panel that just started to pulse green. Like your skin! Find it for me and tap it. You don't have to hit it, just touch it."

Coulson nudged his arm and the Hulk turned to see the green panel. He shifted so he wouldn't break Coulson and touched the panel. The doorway closed up. He backed away and started to look around.

"Oh, Stark, I'm going to tase you so much for this."

The Spaceman on the screen smiled and clapped. "Great! Now before you panic touch it again."

Hulk looked at the Spaceman and then at the green panel. The Spaceman made go-go motions with his hands.

"Go on, you know you want to."

He touched the panel and the doorway came back. He stuck his head out into the hallway and pulled it back in. He touched the panel several times in a row and grinned as each time the door came and went for him.

"See, there? Hulk-triggered door. It won't open unless you want it to. People can get out a human-sized hatch in the bathroom, but they can't get back in. One way. You have to let them in." The Spaceman smiled. "You want to watch some kittens? Or hummingbirds? I have this one nest I put up on a side screen sometimes. Little hummingbirds babies are the greatest."

The screen changed to fluffy kittens and the Hulk sat back down next to Coulson.

"Dumb." The screen flipped to hummingbirds. He cocked his head as the baby fluttered little wings. "Small."

Coulson snorted. "Stark is just pulling your chain."

"Stark?"

Coulson looked at him. "The man that was just talking. What do you call him?"

Hulk smiled. "Spaceman." He showed Coulson his fist and then acted out catching it with his other hand. "Saved Spaceman."

"You did." Coulson smiled and his breathing seemed better now. "You did a very good job."

"Yes." Hulk gently stroked Coulson's head. "Rest."

Coulson blinked slowly. "Sounds good."

* * *

Bruce punched Tony's arm for the fourth time. "I can't believe you can be so damn stupid when you are a genius."

"What?" Tony frowned and pulled further away. "Damn it. Stop hitting me. I'm going to bruise again." He rubbed his arm and turned to the rest of them. "What are you all glaring at me for? I didn't lie to us."

Natasha ran her fingers around the edge of the fresh bandage on Coulson's chest. "I knew that memo wasn't Hill's writing."

Tony edged away from Bruce. "I did find a death certificate for him though. All proper and shit."

Clint poked the bottom of Coulson's left foot. "Why did the Hulk come back to the Tower?"

Tony shrugged. "I might have set a low frequency beacon that's near the bottom of his range on his roar. It sounds nice to his ears."

Bruce reached out to hit him again and Steve slid quickly between them.

"So, the Hulk knows this is his home?"

"Got him his own room and everything." Stark smiled.

* * *

Phil clawed his way back up to wakefulness. It sucked. His chest was vaguely aching, like he'd overdone...Oh, right. He listened to the bickering around him as he tried not to react to Clint poking him in the _foot_ with a fingernail.

"Got him his own room and everything."

Phil cracked his eyes open. "I am going to tase you, Stark." He let his eyes drift closed. "Just as soon as I found out what happened to my good taser."

"Nat has it." Clint's hand cupped the bottom of his foot. "You know about what Fury did to your trading cards?"

Phil grimaced. "I punched him and tore some stitches."

"Good for you." Stark's voice was closer now. "On the good pain killers when you did that, huh?"

Natasha's hands disappeared and there was a general shuffling of people noises. Then Natasha was back. "You alright?"

"Sure."

"Fury said you were dead."

Phil nodded. "I was, so he wasn't lying."

Clint's hand shifted. "Sir?"

"I closed my eyes on Fury telling me to do something and woke up in a morgue drawer."

The door came open. "Did I hear that right?"

"Cap, seriously, go away." Clint's hand tightened a bit as he spoke.

"Wait." Phil opened one eye. "What's wrong, Captain?"

Steve moved into the room. "You got stabbed by Loki's staff, right?"

Phil nodded.

Steve made a cube shape with his hands. "It is linked to the cube, right?"

"We think so, yes."

"Oh, uhm." Steve moved closer. "Schmidt held the cube and ended up _gone_." He made a gesture towards the ceiling.

Phil blinked and pushed himself up straighter in the bed. "Explain."

* * *

Tony sat down next to Bruce. "JARVIS start looking for Captain America trading cards. Find Coulson's buying histories and match or better everything he got."

"Yes, sir. Shall I attempt to complete any series he did not?"

"Yes, all of them. The faster the better."

"Very well, sir."

Bruce sighed. "You can't fix everything, Tony."

"I can damn well try." Tony rubbed his hand across his face. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about your room downstairs."

"No." Bruce propped his head on his hand. "It was good. The other guy obviously liked it since it isn't in little pieces." Bruce sighed. "The suit you gave me is ruined."

Tony made a rude noise. "So what? It can be replaced." He checked on Coulson's vitals. "Nice to have the whole gang here."

"You knew."

Tony frowned. "No." He brought up the Tower's layout. "What's this floor? Between Clint's and the common floor?"

"It was locked until a couple of hours ago, so I don't know. I do know that is where we put Coulson after the medics said he was alright."

"Coulson's floor." Tony's expression suggested indifference. "I planned it all out before...everything. Before Natasha made you mad. Before..." He looked up at the ceiling. "I nuked a bunch of aliens in the face." He got up to get another cup of coffee. "Want one?"

Bruce pushed his cup towards Tony and let Tony pick it up without holding it out to the man. "I scared the crap out of her."

"Yeah? While you are green you do outweigh and out-reach her."

"While I was me, not the other guy."

Tony came back over with their cups and set Bruce's down near him. "Wow. I don't even think Fury could do that. Way to go."

He frowned at Tony. "It was a bad idea. She'll never trust me now."

"She already does." Tony smiled. "She let you in the same room as Clint and Agent Coulson while they were both hurt or hurting."

"Oh." Bruce looked confused. He brightened. "You think she is worried about what she'll do."

"Close enough." Tony snapped his fingers. "Oh! Just thought of something. Gotta go."

* * *

Bruce slipped into Coulson's room after everyone had left and Clint had fallen asleep in his corner nest. "Need anything?"

"Dr. Banner." Phil smiled slightly and made _come here_ motions with his hand.

Moving carefully so he wouldn't set off Clint, Bruce came up to Coulson's bed. "Yes?"

"Thank you for coming in." Phil laid his hand over the bandages. "Stark is an ass, but losing him would have been bad."

"Thor could have caught him."

"And probably would have caused Stark to break bones with the impact." Phil blinked slow. "Stark gets more injured than people think even inside the suit."

Bruce pushed his glasses up his nose. "We'll just have to watch out for him."

"Yeah..." Phil's eyes drooped closed and Bruce turned from the bed, nodded to a silently watching Clint, and quietly left.

He headed down the hall to the elevator and stopped. "You could just talk to me."

Natasha eased away from the wall. "Would we talk about the weather?"

He smiled. "Only if you let me show Steve _RED_ as the next movie we make him watch."

She laughed. "I like that one."

They walked down the hallway towards the elevator. Bruce went into the elevator first. "I'll try not to startle you in the furture."

She smiled as she hit the buttons for their seperate floors. "I'll try not to have to lie."

He nodded. "We'll see how long we can make that last."

She got off on her floor and turned to face him. "Fairly long, I'm sure."

He hit the hold button. "Why is your floor the bottom one of all our living floors?"

She smiled and waved as she headed down the hallway. "You'll have to ask Stark."

Bruce nodded as he let the button go and the door slid closed. "I'll do that."


	5. A Room, a Team

"Are you really going to tase me?" Tony looked up as Coulson made his way slowly over to the workshop couch.

"Maybe later." Coulson sank down onto the cushions.

Tony nodded absently and concentrated on the nanofabric he was working on. After several minutes he realized Coulson wasn't annoying him or leaving and Tony looked up again. Dum-E was trying unsuccessfully to spread a blanket over Coulson's sleeping form. Tony sat back and watched.

"How is he?"

Tony jumped and clutched at his arc reactor. "Dammit! Noise!" He turned and glared at Clint. "Fuck you and super-ninja-spy both. Make some fucking noise." He looked over to see how disapproving Coulson would look to find he was still asleep. "Huh."

Clint settled on the only empty patch of countertop. The shards of the plate Dum-E had tried to clear away were spread across the floor beneath his dangling feet. "Can JARVIS tell how he's doing?"

Tony glanced at the side screen that currently held Coulson's and Bruce's vitals. "No."

Clint snorted. "Sure. I just wanted to let you know Nat bobbytrapped the ducts on her floor and the one below it. If you need to have maintenance done or anything."

Tony rubbed his eye. "Fine, fine. She's changing the air filters for any floor she's made lethal."

"Fair enough." Clint picked up a wrench from between them and twirled it. "Cap is going to be down here any minute to bug you about sleeping."

Tony glanced at his clock. "Why? It is only ten thirty."

Clint stuck his chin out towards the screen in front of Tony. "Check the date."

"Oh." Tony spun his chair around and threw his feet up beside Clint's closer thigh. "Usually you like to watch me be yelled at."

With a shrug, Clint slid off the counter. "You do make the most absurd facial expressions."

He frowned. "I do not."

Clint held out his phone. "Sure you don't."

Tony snatched it and flicked through the photos. "Wow...no,no, that's totally uncalled for...huh, not bad...Oh! Can I email this one to myself?"

Clint leaned forward to see and smiled. "Sure."

"Pepper will love that one." Tony handed back the phone. "Why are you really here?"

"What was space like?"

Tony blinked. "Seriously?"

Clint shrugged. "Never got to ask anyone who has actually been before."

"It was...amazing. Huge and there were so many stars I didn't recognize. The fleet of spaceships were sort of cool in a we-are-all-going-to-die sort of way." Tony frowned. "Then _I_ died." He shrugged. "A little bit. Or something. Anyway, I woke up when the Hulk tried to deafen me."

Clint raised an eyebrow. "Well, I did say he was loud."

Tony rolled his eyes. "Go away, Barton."

Clint smiled as he went.

* * *

Pepper frowned as her phone beeped. It was supposed to be on silent, but Tony kept forcing it to beep for his incoming messages no matter what settings Pepper changed. She sighed and checked her phone. It was a picture message of Tony making rabbit ears behind Steve's head while he was turned away and clearly lecturing Tony. She shook her head. Tony never got as childish as when someone was trying to get him to listen to them.

She exited the elevator and Steve stuck his head out of the kitchen.

"Good afternoon, ma'am."

She smiled and reminded herself not to correct him about her name again. It would only make him feel more awkward. "Steve. What movie are they torturing you with tonight?"

"Oh, it isn't torture, ma'am. Clint picked _Support Your Local Gunfighter_. He said we'd had enough aliens for a while."

She nodded. "That one is a comedy. I think you'll like it." She gently pried the tea towel out of his hand and tossed it onto the counter behind him. "Do you know what you want to learn today?"

He nodded as they left the kitchen behind and went into the big main room with all the technology Tony could pack into a living space. "I know exactly what I want to work on."

She smiled as he pulled out his sketchbook from between two cushions of the smallest couch. "Alright." She looked down at the picture he'd drawn. "Oh. Wow."

"I need to figure out how to get this into the computer without JARVIS because I want to surprise Agent Coulson, but I can't if Tony learns about it." He gestured to the ceiling. "JARVIS is really swell, but he has said that Tony ordered him to tell Tony any time I ask for help with something technological."

Pepper tried not to smile too widely. "Steve, if Tony wants to know about it, he will."

Steve sat down with a sigh. "I know."

She hated it when he made her feel like she's kicked a puppy. It was even worse than when Tony made her feel that way. She settled next to him and took the sketchbook from him. "Here. Let's get this into a program so you can...What were you wanting to do to it?"

He tilted his head. "I need to touch up a few spots and color it. I want to get it printed out and framed when it is done. Can we do that?"

"Sure." She ran her thumb down the pile of pages he'd flipped over to get to the one they were on. "What else have you drawn?"

He took the sketchbook back and flipped pages. "This one was hard to shade, but I'm happy with how it came out for the most part."

She clapped her hands. "Oh! I love it. Would you mind it terribly if I took a photo of that one?"

Steve looked down at it. "I don't have Agent Coulson's shoe at the right angle."

"I don't care." She made her best puppy dog eyes at him. "Please, Steve?"

He ducked his head and rubbed his thumb across the edge of the page. "Alright. Sure."

She carefully lined up the frame of the phone's camera and snapped a couple of pictures. "Great! Show me what else you have, please."

* * *

Bruce always tried to sit on the outside edge of the group when watching movies, but somehow he almost always ended up on the middle. This time was no different with Tony on one side of him, Steve on the other, and Clint in front of them on the floor. On the other side of Steve was Coulson, the poor man was still sleeping more than he was awake. His head was going to slide down onto Cap's shoulder any minute. Thor smiled at them from the armchair he'd claimed as his own.

Bruce turned his head just enough to see Natasha curled up on the corner platform that Clint usually used. Bruce looked down at Clint with his bowl of popcorn. "You are going to fanboy over this movie, aren't you?"

Clint tilted his head back and smiled at Bruce with a mouthful of popcorn.

Tony's phone chimed, he checked it, and laughed. "Oh, God. Bruce, you have to see this..." He held out his phone and Bruce frowned.

"Where did that come from?"

Tony beamed and punched a couple of buttons on his phone. "Pepper messaged it to me. It is tooth-achingly cute." He waggled the phone at them and jumped when Natasha leaned in over his shoulder.

Bruce turned his head to see Natasha smile at the image before flipping her body back up onto the corner nest. He poked Tony in the ribs. "It isn't cute."

Clint flicked Tony's phone out of his hand and checked the image. "Definitely cute." He held the phone back up for Tony to snatch before there could be blood shed.

Thor raised his eyebrows. "What is the picture of which we speak?"

Bruce glanced at Tony, who seemed absorbed in his phone. "He can't just show you?"

Tony made a face and tucked his phone away. "Nah. Thor's fried a couple of phones and one older computer core." Tony flicked his fingers outward. "Lightning demi-god."

"It was just the other guy, Thor."

Tony smacked him in the arm. "Oh, please." Tony leaned out so he could see Steve's face. "It is a hand drawn picture of the Hulk watching baby hummingbirds as Coulson sleeps beside him."

Coulson's head came up. "What?" He looked around, seemingly decided there was no danger, and then he closed his eyes again.

Thor nodded seriously. "A captured picture."

Bruce shook his head. "No, Thor, Steve drew it."

Steve shrugged. "I just thought it was an interesting angle down on them."

Clint reached up and poked Tony in the knee with his handful of popcorn. "Movie."

"That was a lame attempt at distracting me, Barton." Tony waved at the screen. "You heard the man, JARVIS. Movie."

* * *

Phil was rather enjoying all the bits of conversations he was getting to hear because everyone thought he was asleep constantly, instead of sleeping in small stretches like he actually was. He let himself almost smile as Bruce tried to ask Tony about the arrangement of the floors in the Tower.

"Natasha said I needed to ask you about why her floor is the bottommost of the living quarters if I wanted to know."

Tony clanked something and muttered to himself before what sounded like a chair turning. "Does it matter?"

"Yes. I'm between you and Thor. Above everyone except you." Bruce sat down on the arm of the couch and Dum-E chirped at him from where the robot was laboriously spreading a blanket over Phil's chest. "It is dangerous."

"Ahhh, no." Tony's voice moved as he walked towards them. "Natasha is the lowest floor because she needs to be the first to kick an invader's ass. Steve is next because he'll be right behind her. Barton after that because he'll have a conniption fit if he's too far away from Natasha." Tony stopped moving. "And the guy beside you is next because he needs to be in the middle of everything."

Phil had to force himself not to smile at Tony's avoidance of using his name.

"And Thor's on the floor with a wide balcony. Your floor is above that." Tony moved away again. "Big deal."

"Tony, we're just as likely, if not more so, to get attacked from above."

"I know that." Tony sounded snappish.

Bruce moved from the arm of the couch. "I wasn't saying you didn't."

"Clint asked me what space was like."

There was a hum sort of noise from Bruce.

"I expected you to ask that one."

"And I expected you to ask far more questions about the other guy."

Phil wanted to crack an eye so he could see Stark's face.

"Huh." Tony's voice was soft around the edges. "I wasn't terrified. That sort of surprised me."

"Mostly just done with it all and wanting a peaceful nap?"

"Yeah." Tony tapped something on his workbench. "There was something wrong with the way the portal closed, you know."

Phil had been sliding towards real sleep right until then.

"What do you mean?" Bruce moved closer to Tony.

"I did the math." Tony paused for a moment, probably to bring up equations. "It should have closed before I fell back through. It slowed up for a fraction of a second. Just enough. And not only that, but the gamma levels spiked then too."

"Tony..."

"No, no. I'm not trying to imply...It wasn't you." Tony made something light up and then it died back down some. "Look at this and tell me what you see."

Phil cracked one eye open. Lot of blue light, yep. He closed his eye and waited.

"Shit."

"Uh huh." Tony started typing. "I think we're damn lucky Loki picked _him_ to stab. There's nothing more orderly and dutiful than a former Marine."

"You think..."

Phil couldn't stop himself. "Once a Marine, always a Marine, Stark. Not former anything."

There was a crash. "Ow."

He opened his eyes to find Tony had gashed his hand open and Bruce was being quietly amused as Stark complained about spies and no warning noises.

* * *

Director Fury pursed his lips as he read the latest report. "You are sure you want to stay there?"

Agent Coulson's best hint-of-a-smile appeared on his face. "Having the time of my life, Boss."

"Uh huh." Fury checked the computer in front of him and frowned as another trading card was bought from underneath him. It was going to take him far more than eight years at this rate. "Try not to let it all go to Stark's head."

"I'll do my best, sir." And Coulson ended the call.

Fury leaned back in his chair. "You always do."

* * *

Steve gingerly sat down next to Coulson. "Tony says you've been faking being asleep."

Coulson opened his eyes. "Only part time."

"I know." Steve clasped his hands together. "I can, ah, hear really well."

With a snort, Coulson sat up. "I've heard that." He cocked his head. "What can I do for you, Cap?"

Steve smiled and jumped up. "Actually, I have something for you." He picked up the frame and turned it for Coulson to see.

"Oh." Coulson leaned forward and looked the picture over. "That is incredible."

Steve moved it towards Coulson. "I want you to have it."

"You included me." Coulson's hand came up to grip the frame's edge. "Thank you."

"Of course, I did." Steve touched Coulson's shoulder. "You are one of us, Agent Coulson."

"Awww, look at that."

Coulson didn't even blink. "Natasha is returning my taser today, Stark."

Steve smiled and looked over his simple drawing turned into a poster by modern technology. The Avengers were ranged through the large picture, with Coulson to one side in his normal suit, a gun in one hand. Under the large picture were smaller single pictures, one for each of them. The Hulk's was double wide with him and Bruce back to back. Everyone was depicted in their gear with broders done for each of them so that their name, names in the Hulk/Bruce one, flowed from the bottom border to the top where it said Avengers. Steve had done his own so that half of him had the old uniform and half the new uniform. Everyone was battle scarred in the little pictures and prefect in the large one.

"Oh, that is totally going up on the big living room."

Steve smiled as the rest of his newest team gathered around to see Phil's present.


	6. A Team, A Safe Haven: Teamwork

It didn't take long for Bruce to get used to Clint in the ceiling somewhere and Tony strolling through any time he felt like it, but Captain Rogers showing up and planting himself in the corner was something fairly new and different. Bruce wrote up half an equation on the screen that'd be in front of Tony when he came by later.

"You okay, Cap?"

Steve glanced up from whatever picture he was drawing. "Hhm? Oh, yeah." He frowned and thumbed his drawing. "I'm just having trouble with this. I needed the quiet to work on it."

"Ah. Sorry." Bruce put another partial equation on a different screen, the one Tony would mess with when he got fidgety and moved around the lab.

"No, no. It is alright." Steve sighed and tossed down his sketchbook. "I'm just mad I'm losing details of the people I knew."

"If you draw Tony's father, please make certain Tony won't see it." Bruce closed out his files. "Isn't it time for lunch, Cap?"

"Yes, it is." Steve stood up. "I have a different book for anything I don't want seen."

"That's a good idea." Futile, but a good idea. Bruce let Steve go ahead of him. "What details are you missing?"

Steve pushed the button for the elevator. "Different little things. I can't remember how Morita's chin looked. Or Dum Dum without his bowler hat."

Bruce nodded. "Our minds do odd things with memory."

"It _feels_ like a few months ago to me, you know?" Steve crossed his arms as the elevator doors slid open. "I keep looking at the Military Channel and wondering when we got such reliable weapons."

"Yours weren't reliable?"

Steve shrugged. "We did pretty well, but some of the standard issue stuff was for crap. The BAR was hard to deal with. Heavy and needed two or three guys to carry haul it around. The SAW they have now is so much lighter and still able to do the job."

"Two or three guys?"

"Two for the paratroopers. The gun was under the guy on a line so it wouldn't tangle him worse. At least that was the idea. And another guy for the mount and ammo. Infantry usually managed it with three guys. It was good once you got it setup, but getting it there..." Steve shook his head.

"Ah." Bruce adjusted his glasses. "I'd think the paratroopers would have had problems given how many of them didn't make it through the jumps."

The elevator stopped and the doors opened.

Steve stepped out and turned partway back towards Bruce as they went into the kitchen. "The Ronsons were the worse though."

"The what?"

Tony moved past them along the counter. "M4 Sherman Tank from World War II. It weighed 30.3 metric tons, had 76 mm armor at the thickest, usually with a 75 mm main armament. They caught fire nearly every time they got hit because their armor was too thin and the ammo was right in the wrong place."

Steve nodded and got down the cup Tony was trying to reach. "Falsworth called them Ronsons after the cigarette lighter." Steve sat the cup down near Tony's elbow.

Bruce glanced at Tony who made a face.

"Lights the first time, every time." Tony wrinkled his nose, snatched up the cup, and moved to the coffeemaker.

Natasha settled at the table. "The Germans called them Tommycookers."

Steve grimaced and sat down next to her. "I hadn't heard that. We were usually fighting HYDRA which wasn't the standard luckily."

Clint slipped in and settled on the other side of Natasha. "What's for lunch?"

* * *

Bruce frowned at the finished equation on the screen as Tony strolled past him.

"What are you working on?" Tony tapped the second screen Bruce had set up and absentmindedly finished that equation before looking up and grinning at Bruce. "You look worried."

Bruce glanced up at Tony and then back at the equation. "Me? Never." He cocked his head and pointed at the screen. "What do you make of this?"

Tony slid over and looked where Bruce was pointing. "Nice solution."

"You didn't do it." Bruce took his glasses off and rubbed the lenses on his shirt. "And I didn't. So, who else do we have that could solve it?"

"Probably Natasha." Tony flicked the equation away and pulled on Bruce's arm. "Come on. I need someone to tell me if the nanofabric I'm working on makes them itch."

Bruce blinked. "Nanofabric?"

* * *

The third time Bruce found equations meant for Tony solved in someone else's handwriting, Bruce resorted to asking JARVIS about it. Which felt a bit like cheating, but Bruce hadn't been successful at catching the person on his own. Turned out JARVIS wasn't all that helpful.

"I am only allowed to report on the presence of the Hulk or intruders in your laboratory, Dr. Banner."

"Huh." That meant it had to be one of them because Bruce knew of no one else expect Pepper who ever got near him or his lab. "Tell Tony I'm asking you to show me who finishes either of these equations, please, JARVIS." He wrote more equations to finish on a screen.

"Very well, Dr. Banner."

* * *

Fury called them to suppress a threat that afternoon. Bruce frowned as they read the situational briefs.

"Terrorists that insist they can de-age people. Lovely. Sounds like a comic book plot." Bruce took his glasses off and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

Tony threw down his folder. "So? Can we go blow up stuff now?"

Steve frowned at Tony and started to say something, but Bruce nudged Steve under the table.

Clint leaned forward and smiled at Steve's affronted expression. "Please tell me there will be somebody I can shoot."

Coulson smirked. "I'll be sure to find you someone, Agent Barton."

Steve got up and in all seriousness told them to assemble.

Natasha kicked Tony so he wouldn't make a snide remark about them all being in the same room, thanks. Instead he complained about being injured before there was even any fighting. Bruce didn't see that as much improvement, but it seemed to make Natasha happy.

* * *

Bruce wasn't allowed to help because someone was worried the Hulk and de-aging agents would be a nasty combination. Which, while, Bruce understood the worry, that didn't mean he had to like it. "Are they okay?"

Coulson looked up from the radar screen he was watching. "You have a comm, Dr. Banner."

"I don't want to be startled or suddenly pissed off."

"Ah, of course." Coulson motioned him closer. "The dot streaking around in ovals is Iron Man." Coulson went on to explain the positions of each person and the search pattern for the bombs.

"Do you really think these people can cause de-aging?"

Coulson shrugged. "Bombs of any sort are worth the effort to find and disarm."

"Right." Bruce watched the feeds of his teammates' efforts. "You don't believe a word of it."

"Not about the de-aging, no." Coulson touched his comm. "Hawkeye, wait for Thor."

"Bit busy here. I found one." Barton's voice sounded stressed.

Coulson frowned and peered at the screens. Then there was a deafening boom.

Bruce was up and out of the truck just a bit faster than Coulson. He could see the dust cloud in the distance and Iron Man streaking in from one side.

"Does anyone have eyes on Hawkeye?" Coulson started up the street and Bruce went with him.

There were several negatives and Iron Man saying maybe.

"Shit!" Tony sounded panicked. "Get here now, people!"

Bruce took out off at a run.

* * *

Tony flipped up the face plate because he hadn't gotten a single reading that said anything other than dust and debris. It looked like de-aging compounds had a fast half-life. "Hey, there." He moved a fallen beam and pulled the tiny arm from under Clint's quiver. "Please be a random kid. Please be a random bystander that Hawkeye has tucked into...Damn it."

The boy was in Clint's uniform and his hair was lighter than Clint's was. He looked like he was covered in some sort of goop. It was dripping everywhere. Tony asked JARVIS to give him a DNA analysis. The kid stirred. He blinked at Tony and then started scrambling backwards.

"Clint..."

The boy froze at the sound of Tony's voice and he cocked his head.

Tony clicked his tongue. "The world just keeps getting weirder." He held his hand out towards the mini-Clint. "Clint, do you remember me?"

A shake, then a nod of the boy's head. He looked down at himself drowning in Barton's uniform and getting possible contaminants everywhere. "What..." The kid's eyes went impossibly wide and then he was clinging to Tony's armor and trying to hide from Natasha.

"Where's Barton, Stark?"

Tony very carefully settled his armored hand on mini-Clint's back. "De-aged it looks like."

* * *

Bruce frowned at the analysis. "This isn't good. There's abnormalities in the DNA. I mean, yeah, it is Barton, but I'm not sure how stable this form is." He fidgeted as the rest of them frowned. "Sorry."

Steve shook his head. "Not your fault, Bruce." He looked over at the little blanket lump on the couch. "He was a really small child."

"Is." Tony flicked the blanket over so it covered both of Clint's feet. "I'm calling Pepper."

Bruce frowned at Tony's retreating back. "And everyone thinks I have the biggest self-esteem issues."

Natasha glanced up from Barton. "Not everyone." She eased herself off the couch. "He crashed fast."

"Decontamination showers can really take it out of you." Everyone looked at him. "What? Before I was...green. I worked with radiation. It isn't always as fun as you'd think."

Coulson came in with a bag in his hand. "I have clothing for Barton." He dropped the bag by the couch. "Do we know anything new?"

Bruce shrugged. "Nothing useful yet." He made shooing motions. "Everyone go away so I can work."

* * *

Bruce waited until they were all gone, the still sleeping boy gathered up with them, and only then did Bruce finally get a chance to check the equations. "Well, crap."

They were unfinished. He huffed as he powered down everything that wasn't busy running hypothetical scenarios. It'd be hours before the new tests were complete. Plenty of time to figure out what was wrong with Tony. He headed to Tony's workshop.

He watched Tony sullenly flick bits of wireframe weapon parts around before finally going inside Tony's workshop. "Why did you know the armament for a tank from WWII?"

Tony cocked his head and flicked another piece of design. "It was a weapon in a war."

"Okay?"

"I grew up the son of a warmonger. What do you think I needed to know?"

Bruce raised his eyebrows at the flat tone. "Uh huh. Now you want to tell me the real reason?"

Tony froze. He took a slow, deep breath. "I've been a target my whole life. You get that, right?" Tony looked at him carefully and then back down at his countertop. "I was kidnapped for the first time when I was five. I made them cry and they gratefully gave me back."

Bruce sat down and started breathing slower so he'd be able to keep listening.

"You'd think my security would get better or something, but I suppose it didn't matter until I was ten and Dad wouldn't pay the ransom. They weren't happy about that." Tony took a drink of his protein shake. "They wanted me to make them a weapon like my Dad had just announced."

"That's just stupid."

Tony smiled thinly. "Not really. I invited it." He waved a hand. "I wouldn't. Dad wouldn't. And they expressed their displeasure on my ribs."

Bruce thought Tony didn't even realize he was rubbing his fingers along his floating ribs.

"I learned every weapon after that. Learned them, made them better, made them _mine_ so I could make it look like I was doing whatever it was they wanted while I made them _lose_." Tony hung his head for a moment and then straightened up. "And that's when I got shipped to boarding school."

Bruce bit his lip. "You know we'll get Clint back to his proper size, right?"

Tony shoved his coffee cup off the table to crash on the floor. "He clung to me." Tony covered the arc reactor in his chest. "I'm not..."

"Yes, you are."

Tony frowned at him.

Bruce nudged Tony's leg with his foot. "Yes, you are safe for him to be around. You can get near him without hurting him." He pressed his foot against Tony's calf a little with each word. "You are more than your father. Better. And I know you aren't him because you are _Tony_. Don't let a miniature version of Clint terrify you."

Tony snorted. "I'm not terrified. Who said I was terrified...That is just hearsay of the worst sort."

"Pepper said she's not helping, didn't she?"

With a quick gesture, Tony pulled up a wireframe of something complex. "She said she'd wait for the pictures and video with commentary. And there might have been some cackling on her part." He started working and ignored Bruce like he wasn't there.

Bruce slipped out and headed down to the other guy's level. He settled against the door to the refuge room and concentrated on his control. "JARVIS are you down here too?"

"Yes, Dr. Banner. Do you require assistance to be directed to you?"

"No. I just...wanted to know."

"Very well, sir. If you would like there is a room to your left that is human accessible."

"Thanks, JARVIS." Bruce found it. The door was sized for the other guy, which made Bruce shake his head. He found a nice looking chair and he settled in to think.

* * *

Natasha huffed as she disarmed the last trap in her air duct. "Do you even think he would get this far?"

Coulson took the claymore as she handed it down to him. "I think I don't want to test the theory that he couldn't."

She didn't blame him on that. It was Barton after all. "He gets hot while he's asleep."

"Most children do." Coulson took the blasting caps from her and she dropped down beside him.

"How is your scar coming?" She took the claymore back and rechecked that it was properly secured.

Coulson's face never changed, but Natasha got the impression of astonishment. "It itches."

She nodded. "The good scars always do." She put the claymore into the case with the rest of them and hefted it. She could see Coulson consider and discard the urge to take the case from her.

He picked up the small bag of blasting caps instead and kept pace with her. "You appear to be more at ease with Dr. Banner."

She took a breathe. "He's hard not to like."

Coulson smiled a little at that. "Very true."

They arrived at one of the small armories Stark had installed on Natasha's floor. There were also ones on Coulson's, Barton's, and Steve's floors. She tapped in her code and they stowed the claymores and blasting caps.

* * *

It didn't take Steve long to decide that it wasn't just that Clint had been made smaller. He _was_ a child. And it was really disconcerting how much touching of, well, everything, that a child did.

Clint put down the TV remote with a look of wonder that Steve recognized from watching the video of himself finding out there were televisions in color and so _big_.

"Could I stay here forever, please?"

Steve blinked. "Uhm."

Tony breezed in. "Sure, kid." He handed Clint a tablet. "Give this a try."

Clint peered at the tablet and started turning it over and over. "Is this battery powered?"

Steve watched Tony as he gave Clint a weird look. Tony glanced at him and shrugged.

"Yeah, lithium-ion."

"Oh." Clint considered that for a moment before climbing up onto the couch beside Steve. "Why are you so confused?" He gave Steve a wide-eyed stare.

Steve rubbed his forehead. "I'm not confused."

Tony snorted and turned the tablet back over. He tapped the screen and Clint was quickly lost to the joys of _Rune Raiders_.

With a frown, Steve stood and pulled Tony with him until they were across the room from Clint. "Do you really think he should be playing a game with killing in it?"

Tony eyed him. "Remember the video games Barton likes to beat Thor at?"

Steve nodded.

"Those are kids' games."

"Oh." Steve let it go. He looked at Tony's body language. "Are you okay?"

"What?" Tony looked up and then over at Clint grinning down at his tablet. "Yeah, yeah. Fine. Aren't I always?"

"Tony."

Tony seemed to shake himself. "You might want to check that Natasha has cleared all the explosives from Clint's floor."

Clint's head popped up. "A floor?" He slipped off the couch and backed away around to the other side of it. "I don't want to do sims."

"What?" Tony looked at Steve who shrugged. Tony turned back to Clint peering at them over the back of the couch. "What the hell are sims?"

Clint blinked. "Is this another test?"

Steve frowned and went to get Coulson.

* * *

Tony made a face at Steve's retreating back. Clint had moved to the end of the couch and was watching him carefully. "No tests, Clint. As an adult you have a floor here that belongs to you."

Clint blinked. "Adult?"

"Nevermind that right now." Tony sat down and restart the level of _Rune Raiders_ Clint had been on. "Here, go back to playing."

With a worried look, Clint climbed over the end of the couch to sit and he took the tablet. "I'm hungry."

"Oh, uh. Okay." Tony looked down at Clint's bent head. "Do you know what you want to eat?"

"Today should be asparagus..."

"What?" Tony narrowed his eyes at Clint's innocent expression. "You _want_ vegetables?"

Clint gave him a weird look. "What else am I allowed?"

* * *

Natasha stepped between Coulson and the elevator automatically. She really needed to work on not having that reaction, but she kept putting it off.

Steve stuck his out of the elevator. "Something is weird with Clint."

Coulson pushed past Natasha and she followed him into the elevator.

They rode up in silence. Natasha stood just inside the door.

"What are you feeding him?"

Tony looked like a deer caught in a pair of headlights. "Uhm. Food?"

Clint held up a forkful of what looked like mustard potato salad. "I like it!"

Tony patted him on the head and herded everyone out into the hallway. He _grabbed_ Natasha's arm as he did. Which she allowed because Stark looked like he was about to have a conniption fit at any moment.

They got into another room and Tony leaned against the wall next to the door.

"Something is wrong with that boy."

Natasha repressed the urge to roll her eyes. "He's supposed to be an adult for one."

Tony glared at her. "No shit." He pushed off the wall and flopped into the nearest arm chair. "He has never had potato salad. Seriously? I mean, okay, so I was like eleven the first time I got any, but different standards, you know? I knew what overpriced finger foods were by the time I was four. Barton was normal-ish until his parents died, wasn't he? He grew up in _America_. How the hell doesn't he know what potato salad even is?"

Steve crouched in front of Tony. "Why did you feed him potato salad?"

"He wanted vegetables. Potatoes are a vegetable." Tony looked past Steve to Coulson. "That's not normal, right?"

Coulson moved to stand next to Steve. "It depends on the child. Has he asked about family?"

Steve turned his head and looked up at Coulson as Tony shook his head.

Natasha eased closer. "He's an orphan by now."

"He hasn't said anything about his brother?"

They all stared at Coulson. Tony blinked. "What brother?"

* * *

Bruce looked up as the miniature Clint came into his lab. JARVIS had been kind enough to tell Bruce when the results were ready to view, so Bruce had come back up to his lab.

"Hey there."

Clint froze and watched him over the top of the table. "Can I stay here?"

Bruce rubbed his hands together. "Sure."

With a wide grin, Clint scrambled up onto the stool Tony usually used. "I upset Mr. Stark somehow."

"Don't worry about it." Bruce flipped to the next report. "It is easy to upset Tony sometimes."

"Okay."

A few minutes went by in silence and then it occurred to Bruce a quiet Clint was dangerous thing, so he looked up only to find Clint in the far corner, huddled down to a little heap, sleeping.

As Bruce got up to move the child to the couch, he noticed the screen was on where Clint had been sitting. An alert popped up on his phone with a beep. Burce found it was a message saying one his equations had been solved.

Bruce looked from the boy to the screen and back again. Then he gently picked up Clint, who muttered about not wanting to in his sleep, and Bruce settled him on the couch. He covered him with a blanket.

* * *

Bruce came into the small living room closest to the elevator on the common floor. "Something is weird with Clint. Other than the being a child problem."

Everyone nodded, which he'd not expected.

"Tell us something we don't know." Tony tapped on his tablet.

"Clint can solve math equations like you can."

Tony's head came up fast. "What?"

Bruce pulled up the footage from his lab on the closest wall screen. "Watch."

They all watched as little Clint got bored and solved the equation while keeping an eye on Bruce, who was oblivious.

Coulson cursed. They all jumped because he never cursed. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and handed it to Natasha. "Call Thor and tell him we need him to come back from his date. He can bring Dr. Foster with him if he wants."

Bruce followed Coulson as he left the room.

* * *

Tony hurried after Bruce and Coulson with Steve bringing up the rear. They stood back as Coulson started to approach Clint and the boy started to scream.

"Fuck." Tony pulled on Coulson and shoved them all out into the hallway. Bruce came back in a few moments later. Tony held his hands out so that Clint could see them. "Hey, hey, calm down."

"No!" Clint climbed onto the back of the couch. "NO! I won't go back! I like it here." He started to cry.

Coulson eased past Tony, now in his undershirt without his tie, dress shirt, or jacket. "Clint. I'm not going to take you anywhere."

Clint shook his head. "I don't want to go!"

Coulson sat down on the floor in front of the couch and looked up at Clint. "You don't have to, but this is important. Please." He pointed at Tony. "Before Mr. Stark called you Clint what was your name?"

"They said if I was good I'd get to stay." Clint curled his legs up and put his chin on his knees. "I've been good. I have."

With a nod, Coulson scooted closer. "You've been very good. You get to stay, but it is very important right now that you tell me your name."

Clint sniffled. "I had a number. I don't want to be called 294."

Tony grabbed Bruce's arm. "What?"

Coulson held a hand out to indicate for them to shut up. "We can't call you Clint, because my agent who is missing is called that, but how about we call you his middle name, Francis? It'll annoy him to no end."

The boy rubbed his eyes. "I don't have to go back?"

"No." Coulson stood up. "If you draw me the layout of the place you were before, I'll make certain they'll never be able to recover enough to even think about looking for you."

* * *

They were all gathered around the very detailed layout of the floor the child they were now calling Francis, had drawn. Coulson, back in his customary suit and tie, pointed at the wireframe. "This is the Centre."

Tony cocked his head. "And what is that, exactly?"

"It is a corporation funded by the Council, but not normally claimed to actually exist. I only know about it because I was undercover as a Cleaner for less than a week." Coulson swept his hand down his tie. "They aren't very nice to work for."

Thor put his fists on the edge of the table and leaned forward. "How long until we can begin the raid to retrieve our shield brother?"

"The sooner, the better." Coulson looked at each of them in turn. "We will not be able to get SHIELD support for this."

Steve shrugged. "Doesn't matter. We need to retrieve Agent Barton." Steve reached out towards the wireframe. "Are we sure he'll be held here?"

Coulson frowned. "Not entirely certain, but a review of the satellite imaging from the abduction leads me to believe that the Centre has taken him, yes."

"Then let's go get him." Tony looked the layout over again as everyone left the room except Bruce. "I really thought it was him. A fucking clone, Bruce."

Bruce nodded. "You had every reason to think it really was a de-aging bomb. We'll get Barton back."

"Yeah. In how many pieces?" Tony flicked the wireframe into a spin. "He was just starting to not worry Natasha and Coulson. They had just quit watching every little move he made. Now this."

"We'll worry about that when we have him back." Bruce stuck his finger out to stop the wireframe from moving. "If the other guy hits too many of the support pillars the whole structure falls in."

"I've thought about that."

"Tony. I'm really mad about this whole thing. The more I learn the madder I'm getting." Bruce grimaced. "The other guy won't be listening to anyone."

Tony nodded. "We'll see."

* * *

They used a personal jet of Tony's to get to Delaware. They touched down and Tony pulled Natasha away from the rest of the team as they got ready.

"I need you to kidnap someone."

Natasha glared at him. "Not now, Stark."

"I'm serious." Tony held out a piece of paper to her. "We're going to need her."

Natasha read the paper. "Oh." She looked at the team and then back at Tony. "You had better get him out alive, Stark."

Tony nodded. "We will."

* * *

Clint hadn't slept. He couldn't remember how long he'd been in the heat and light, the noise was piercing and kept him awake. The only thing that made it bearable was that it wasn't Loki in his head. Clint tried to move, but he was strapped down again. He could vaguely remember having broken someone's nose in an attempt to escape.

The noise changed. There was suddenly a low rumble to go with the high pitched noise. Clint tried to focus, but then there was a roaring thing blocking the bright lights.

Clint licked his split lip. "Hey."

His restraints were ripped loose and Clint smiled as the Hulk picked him up.

* * *

Natasha knocked on the house's front door. She glanced around to see if there was more Army surveillance she needed to knock out.

"Coming!"

She turned back just as the door opened slightly.

"Yes?"

"Betty Ross?"

Betty narrowed her eyes. "Who are you?"

Natasha smiled softly. "I'm Agent Romanoff from the Avengers Initiative. I work with Dr. Banner." She nearly snapped Betty's wrist as the woman grabbed her.

"Where is he?" She was fierce and _mad_.

"I can see why he likes you."

Betty blinked. "What?"

Natasha gently disengaged Betty's hand from her shirt. "Bruce needs your help."

* * *

Tony stayed high and helped contain the flood of people coming out of the Centre as the Hulk rampaged below. He had JARVIS sorting them into groups. The children, most seemingly having never been outside from the couple of panic attacks about the sky he'd seen, were being herded by Coulson.

The "Cleaners' were mostly being knocked out as they kept trying to kill people. Thor kicked a few of them harder than Tony had ever see him be towards mere mortals.

One older man had just stood and smiled creepily the whole time. Tony tagged his image to make sure someone figured out who the hell he was.

The Hulk emerged from the smoldering rubble with a human in his arms. Tony swooped in and landed near him. He faced a deafening roar and then he was being handed Barton. Who was _alive_. Which meant Tony wasn't going to have to be killed by Natasha any time soon.

"Thanks."

The Hulk looked down at them for a few moments before he turned and dropped back into the hole he'd climbed from. Tony turned with Barton in his arms and yelled for Thor.

The ground beneath them trembled and Captain America appeared at Tony's elbow.

"Give him here, Iron Man. Get the Hulk out of there."

They passed Barton from his arms to Steve's.

"Will do." Tony grimaced since no one, but JARVIS could see it. "How bad is the structural integrity, JARVIS?"

"It appears to be severely compromised, sir."

"Great." Tony dropped further down as the scans showed no people and no Hulk. "Damn it."

Finally at the bottom level, three further down than any plans JARVIS had been able to hack had even shown, Tony found the Hulk ripping out a main support pillar.

"Hey, Hulk!"

The Hulk just ignored him and kept pulling pieces from the pillar.

Tony cursed and opened his comm channel. "Cap, I'm going to have to piss the Hulk off to get him out of here. Be ready." Tony clicked off before he had to hear Steve yell at him. "Hulk, I'm really, really sorry." He readied his repulsors. "JARVIS as soon as I hit him, kick it."

"We are ready, sir."

Tony took one last breath and hit the Hulk with his repulsors on full. The Hulk staggered and turned to roar at him. Tony's thrusters fired and he could _hear_ the Hulk following him up and out.

Tony almost made it out of range, but evidently the Hulk could jump better than he'd ever shown around anyone with a video camera. He caught Tony's right foot and the HUD screamed at Tony about it as they fell to the ground.

"Fuck!" Tony curled into a ball and waited. The Hulk held him down with a foot and roared. Tony tried to stay still as another roar reverberated through the suit.

"Bruce!"

"Thank fuck." Tony turned his head to see Betty standing with Natasha just in front of her.

The Hulk stopped mid-roar and stood with most of his weight still on Tony. He panted.

"Bruce!" Betty didn't try to get closer and the Hulk stepped off Tony's suit to turn fully towards Betty.

The ground rumbled again as what was left of the Centre collapsed completely.

* * *

Bruce woke up with a groan. He was in the refuge room. Tony was asleep in a pile of pillows and Clint was beside him, awake and shaking. "Hi."

Clint closed his eyes. "Hey. Can you keep watch now? I want to sleep, but no one else can get in." He leaned forward. "They might come for me and I don't want them to get any of you."

Betty came from the bathroom. "Tony said the hatch is one way and you fell asleep before we could convince you to open the door back up." She nodded her head at Clint. "He won't let me keep watch. He keeps saying I'm too important to you to lose."

Bruce grabbed Betty into a hug. "You are completely crazy."

She laughed as she hugged him back. "Agent Romanoff seemed to think that's why you like me."

He turned his head to rest it on top of Betty's head and looked at Clint. "I'll keep watch, Clint. Go to sleep."

Clint relaxed between breaths and was asleep in seconds.

"They just let the other guy trap you all in here?"

Betty smiled. "We weren't trapped. Tony did something to that suit of his and it sort of fell off in a pile. We put the parts in a cupboard in the bathroom. Which has that clever human sized hatch." She looked around. "You seemed to like it in here."

He rubbed his hand through his hair. Clint was twitching and whimpering in his sleep. Tony was frowning and Betty was just smiling serenely. "How much damage was there?"

"Well, you collapsed a building with 27 sublevels and rescued about a hundred children and adults of various ages." She gestured at Tony. "He made you mad at him so you didn't end up under all the rubble."

Bruce knelt down and checked Tony over. "Did I hurt him?"

"We had a little trouble getting his foot out of the suit where it had crumpled, but he kept saying it could have been much worse."

Bruce frowned. He was going to have words with Tony about aggravating the other guy.

* * *

Natasha didn't relax until they'd gotten Barton settled in his own bed on his own floor and the medical scans said his blood was clear of any drugs.

She watched Tony hover for a while before pulling him down to sit beside her. "You made the right call."

"Wow, coming from you that's high praise. Well, you know that, I'm sure." He flexed his right foot. "Think he'll be okay?"

She looked at the pale, still, form of Clint and lifted her chin. "We'll make sure he gets there. And we're not letting him be taken again."

Tony leaned his head back. "Good. I'd hate to have to piss off the Hulk on another rescue mission."

"How did you know we would need Dr. Ross?"

Tony shrugged one shoulder and he let his eyes close. "He said he was getting madder with everything we learned about the place. I figured if they had more people he was going to get mad enough he'd quit listening completely."

"Why send me?"

"I figured she might listen to you without having to resort to actual kidnapping."

She nodded thoughtfully.

* * *

Coulson quietly stepped past Natasha and Stark sleeping on the couch and stepped over Rogers sleeping on the floor. Clint was shaking in his sleep, the covers thrown off down to his knees.

He carefully untangled Barton's foot from the covers and rearranged the blankets until Clint quit shivering. Suddenly, Clint's eyes snapped open.

He bolted upright. "Coulson?"

Coulson tried not to cringe where his scar had pulled as he'd flinched from Clint's sudden movement. "Yes, Barton."

Clint looked around vaguely. "Is this a hallucination, sir? I was told I'd killed you."

"No hallucination, Agent Barton. You just caused me a lot of paperwork."

Clint fell back on the bed. "Oh. You like paperwork, don't you?" He blinked slow and Coulson soothed him as muscles tremors tore through his arms. "I didn't like it."

"I know, Barton. You won't be going back there."

He turned his head and made a noise in his throat as Coulson tucked the blankets tighter. "Hulk."

Coulson patted Clint's chest. "Yes, the Hulk tore apart the building you were being held in and proceeded to insist you stay with him in his room downstairs."

Barton's eyes popped open and then slid back closed. "Huh. Must be real. I didn't tell them about Hulk's room."

Coulson thought for a moment. "Did you tell them about teaching the Hulk yoga?"

"Hmmm. No." Barton smiled. "I'm home."

"Yes." Coulson looked down at Steve watching them and nodded. Steve nodded back. "And we'll keep it that way, Agent Barton."


	7. Information Gathering

Bruce found Francis huddled under Tony's workshop desk. Tony was repairing the right foot of his armor with the music only slightly too loud. "Hi."

Francis looked up from his tablet. "Hello."

Bruce settled himself on the floor and leaned around the corner of Tony's desk to watch him work for a moment before refocusing on the boy. "Thank you for helping us find Clint."

He looked up at Bruce in surprise. "Uhm, you're welcome?" He frowned and looked down at his tablet. "Do you know what the noise is? Mr. Stark just shook his head and said he'd explain later. Then he started banging on that boot."

"It's Tony's favorite kind of music." He held out his hand. "How about you come with me and we get Tony some food?"

Francis smiled and crawled out from his hiding spot. "Tony is hungry."

"Yeah." Bruce typed a note that he'd taken Francis and that he was not pleased with Tony's way of saving the other guy which meant they were going to have a talk onto Tony's main screen. He picked up Francis, who stiffened and held his breath. "Sorry, I'll...just put you back down."

Francis grabbed on to him. "No! I'm okay." He licked his lips. "I like when you treat me like I am more than a Pretender."

Bruce sighed. "I would like you to explain what being a Pretender is, if you don't mind." He hefted Francis a little higher on his hip. "Let's go find some food first."

* * *

Coulson went looking for Clint five seconds after he found the man's bed empty. Thor and Steve were sleeping, and from the look of it, Clint had gone out through the ceiling.

Phil took his suit jacket off, then his tie, and finally his dress shirt. Then he sighed as he pulled a chair over to be able to scramble up into the air duct, his chest and back complaining the whole way. "I should just sic Natasha on you, Barton."

He crawled until he hit a junction where Stark had enlarged the duct more than would be considered normal. Clint had a small nest there with blankets stolen from team movie nights. The man himself was huddled under several blankets in the back corner of the nest.

"Agent Barton." Coulson eased himself up until he could see Clint clearly. "Report, Barton."

Clint blinked and his fingers curled further into the blanket he was pulling around himself. "Compromised, sir."

Phil sighed and pulled himself the rest of the way into Barton's nest. "I know that, Clint. Now what else is there to report?"

Clint thumbed his split lip. "I'm not who I said I was?"

Phil carefully gathered Clint to him, blankets and all. "I know that too. It doesn't change who you are to this team, Barton."

With a snort, Clint leaned into his embrace. "I told them _no_. I said I wouldn't do it anymore."

It took a lot of soothing, but Phil finally managed to get Clint to sleep. He eased them back against the wall of the ductwork and sighed as his chest went from aching to hurting like a bitch.

Phil worked his phone out of his pocket and dialed. "Natasha, tell Cap that I'm in the ducts with Barton and not to come in after us."

* * *

Natasha muttered to herself as she hung up from talking to Coulson. She settled herself on Clint's bed and started looking through the files JARVIS had managed to pull off the Centre's mainframe before the Hulk had destroyed the place. It was a lot of information.

She ignored anything on females, skimmed a bit on recovery methods for drug inductions, and finally stopped at Pretenders. She frowned as she found Clint. It was even labeled Clint, with codes for dates. She pulled up the oldest one.

"Where's Clint?" Steve was rubbing his eyes as he sat up.

She pointed at the chair with Phil's shirt, jacket, and tie draped over it. "In the ducts with Coulson. He said not to come in after them."

Steve glanced at the opening and then stretched. He looked at Thor still sleeping in the armchair against the far wall. "I wouldn't fit anyway." He settled on the edge of the bed and looked at her screen. "What have you found?"

"Clint's childhood." She clicked the video file and then watched silently.

The view point was from up high, so she figured security footage. The tiny boy, Clint, on screen fitted a final block to the tower he was building. "I'm finished now! Can I go home?"

An adult appeared and backhanded Clint. "You were sold to us! You don't have a home." He took Clint by the scruff of the neck and turned him to look at the tower of blocks. "You are only as good as the last completed simulation you run." Then the man knocked apart the tower and told Clint to do it again, better this time.

Little Clint took heaving breaths, obviously trying to control his sobbing, as he picked up blocks.

Natasha turned it off. "If the Hulk hadn't of already tore that place down..."

Steve pulled her into a one arm hug. "We would have blown it sky high. I promise you that."

She turned her face into his neck for a moment before pulling away. "I'm going to see if there is video of what they did to him while we thought he was de-aged."

Steve cleared his throat and stood up. "I need to go find Stark. If you can get them out of the ducts we'll all bunk down in the movie watching room." He laid his hand on her shoulder. "Don't view too much of that in a stretch, please."

She nodded seriously as she opened another video.

* * *

Steve found Tony in his workshop with Francis and Bruce. They were eating. Steve stepped inside and the boy's eyes got huge.

"You're bigger than any of the Cleaners."

Tony motioned Steve to come over. "Francis was just telling us about his life before he came to live with us." Tony looked down at the boy. "He liked his math simulations best."

Francis ducked his head and picked at the taco he had been eating. "Angles are fun."

Bruce looked at them both and then raised his eyebrows at Steve. With a flick of his head, Steve tried to explain needing to talk to Tony without saying anything.

Bruce seemed to get it as he grabbed up plates. "Come with me Francis, we'll find Betty, and she can show you fractals."

They left with Francis casting worried looks back at them. Tony looked up at Steve and then waved at the seat across from him.

"What's got your panites in a bunch, Cap?"

Steve forced himself to ignore Tony's awful word choice. "They abused Clint."

Tony nodded. "JARVIS darken the wall and don't let Francis back in for right now."

"As you wish, sir." The glass wall and door went dark and there was a clank in the door frame.

"Pull up the footage we've sorted on Clint and mini-Clint. Find me that one where they drown him."

Steve sat down in a daze. "Drown him?"

Tony shrugged as the screen next to him flared to life with a video of a teenage Clint being held underwater. "It looks like a precursor to SEAL training or something. Torture-proofing?" Tony flicked his fingers and the view changed to a smaller Clint in camouflage fatigues. "They had him pretending to be a prisoner of war at eight years old. Eight!"

"That wasn't the bad stuff."

Steve and Tony both jumped as Clint slipped out of the ceiling onto his corner perch. Behind him came Phil at a much slower pace.

Tony snorted. "They half-drowned you. Starved you. What exactly do you consider to be worse, Barton?"

Clint calmly flicked through the files and started one up. "Jarod had already done this. They were having me do it to 'check' his work. He'd started to really rebel by then. I hadn't yet. I didn't have anyone to tell me what was happening wasn't normal." Clint pointed at the equations he was writing in the video. "What's that look like to you?"

Tony squinted and then his face twitched and he pulled back. "Damn." He grabbed Clint's arm and pulled him down between Steve and Tony until his face was inches from Tony's. "You are not responsible. At all."

Clint shrugged. "Jarod came up with it. I'm sure they told him it was for some medical application, rather than bioweaponry applications."

Steve tried to work out what was happening in the video. "What is it?"

Tony turned it off. "Anthrax."

Coulson pinched the bridge of his nose. "I need to call Director Fury."

Clint flipped to another video. "This one I didn't mind so much. Pretending you was sort of cool."

They watched as a very small child, Clint, in a tailored tuxedo spat at an adult. "I'll make you all sorry!"

Tony gasped. "Shit, shit, shit!" He threw a hand out and shoved the screen backwards. The video froze and Tony stood there, hunched in on himself, breathing hard.

Steve looked at Clint, who seemed worried. Coulson took Steve's elbow and propelled him towards Tony, then Coulson gathered up Clint and they left, through the door. Steve eased up to Tony who had clamped a hand over his mouth and was taking deep breaths through his nose.

"Tony?"

Tony shook his head, with his hand still on his mouth and then started blinking fast. He dropped his hand. "I need Pepper." He started fumbling for his phone. Steve got it out from under a pile of debris on Tony's desk and handed it to him. Tony smiled wide. "Thanks, Cap."

Steve hated that particular smile because it was Tony's emptiest one. "Tony, why don't you sit down, okay?"

Tony more fell into his chair then sat, but it was better than nothing. Steve hovered as Tony called Pepper.

"What, Tony? I'm in the middle..."

"I need a school, Pepper."

"You need a what?"

Tony flicked through the videos absently. "I need a school. Last night I might have helped liberate 87 children ranging in age from four years old to adult, all with no parents because the place they were being held in had the parents killed. Most of them are currently in the hospital because they'd never been outside since being taken. The panic attacks rivaled anything I've ever come close to having. And I'm not about to put them into the foster care system willy-nilly."

"Tony, what are you talking about?"

Tony frowned and held the phone out to him. "Here, you talk to her." Then he wandered out of the workshop.

"Ma'am?"

Pepper sounded exasperated. "Is he drunk? Did he get _drunk_ around a de-aged Clint?"

"Uhm. No." Steve suddenly remembered he could take the phone with him, so he started after Tony. "Clint wasn't de-aged, it was actually something called a clone. Which no one has explained to me. Or what Anthrax is. Anyway, we got Clint back, but with him we also got a lot of other kids."

"Clones!? Anthrax? Oh, my God." There was a bunch of noise on Pepper's side of the line. "I will be there in three hours. If Tony isn't drunk then what was wrong with him?"

"He has shell shock, I think."

"Why...No, nevermind. Three hours."

"Thank you, Pepper." He hit the red button that stopped the call as he caught up with and took ahold of Tony's elbow. "Come on, this way, Tony."

* * *

When Natasha appeared out of nowhere to herd Bruce and Francis into the big living room they used for watching movies, Bruce didn't argue. She had that focused poise he remembered from before he first startled her.

There was a pile of blankets and pillows someone had made out of the couch and the area in front of it. Thor was in the nearest corner and Betty smiled at them from the edge where she was smoothing out a blanket. Natasha lifted Francis directly into the middle of it.

"Have you gotten to watch any movies yet?"

Francis frowned. "I'm not allowed."

Bruce closed his eyes to rein himself in and felt Betty's hand touch his forearm.

"It's okay, Bruce."

He nodded and crawled into the nest to sit next to Francis.

"Well, you are allowed now, Francis." Natasha spread a blanket over them. "You remember how we said you helped us find our teammate, Clint?"

Francis nodded.

"He's going to met you and I don't know how that will go because he's really tired right now."

"They hurt him."

Bruce wrapped an arm around Francis' back and he could feel the tension in his small muscles. "Yes, they did."

Francis lifted his chin. "I won't hurt him more. I promise."

Natasha smiled at him. "I know." She eased herself in beside Thor, who was watching silently.

Coulson appeared with Barton in tow, who froze in the doorway.

"Damn." Clint blinked and rubbed his eyes. He stared and Francis stared back. Coulson nudged him and Clint came closer. "It wasn't just Jarod."

Francis cocked his head. "Do I have to run sims against him? I always lose."

Clint crawled into the nest and leaned against Natasha. "Oh, no." He closed his eyes. "No sims."

Coulson, pulled on a sweatshirt as he settled on the floor with his back against the pile of pillows, facing the door. "You aren't going to run sims, Francis."

"Francis?" Clint's eyes came open. "You named him _Francis_?"

Coulson grinned and turned his head to look at the boy. "Told you it would annoy him."

Francis giggled and nodded.

* * *

Tony felt like he was walking through air that had somehow turned solid. Or frozen without freezing him. Something. He could tell he wasn't working right, like his operating system had taken a bad hit from a hack or virus. He let Steve steer him because Tony was busy concentrating on breathing without choking or sobbing. They had picked apart his first kidnapping. Picked it apart and inflicted it on Clint. On who knows how many of those terrified kids.

He was going to find the part of the Council that had originated the Centre and he was going to tear them apart. He started plotting just how he was going to destroy them.

Twin noises of distress brought him out of it. Tony blinked several times and found both Clint and Francis giving him horrified looks.

"What? Was I talking out loud?" He flopped down between them and checked the rest of the group ranged around them. No one else looked horrified, so it couldn't have been him plotting murder and mayhem then.

Clint wrapped his arm around Tony's shoulders, which really felt odd. He thought about shrugging Clint off, but then Francis laid himself over so he was holding down Tony's legs. Tony just let go and stopped thinking at all.

"No, you just felt...awful." Clint closed his eyes with a sigh.

Steve settled at Tony's feet, near Coulson. "What movie are we watching this time?"

Francis wiggled until his legs were across Bruce's lap. "Ms. Betty said we should watch _The Lion King_. She says it is animated. What does animated mean?"

* * *

Coulson waited until most of them had fallen asleep partway through the sequel before calling the Director. "Boss, we have a problem."

Fury looked up and then back down at something off screen and frowned. "I assume this has to do with the abduction of Dr. Elizabeth Ross."

"Only peripherally, Boss." Coulson frowned. "When I first came to SHIELD I was sent on a short mission in an attempt to get more solid intel on the Centre."

Fury's eyes snapped up at that. "What happened?"

Betty came around the end of the nest. "I wasn't abducted."

Coulson glanced at her and then back to the Director. "I might have allowed the Avengers to destroy the Centre's main establishment. And sent into custody approximately a hundred and fifty adults while removing numerous subjects, to include children, from the premises."

"And I wasn't informed prior to the operation."

Coulson let a some of his 'fuck you, sir' face show. "If I had informed you, sir, you would have been required to seek approval from the Council."

Fury inclined his head in acknowledgement. "How badly is this going to go?"

"Stark is pissed off. Right along with Captain Rogers, Boss."

With a nod, Fury frowned at something out of frame again. "Coulson are you already replacing those trading cards?"

He smiled. "No, sir. Stark has his AI doing it for him. I assume I'm supposed to be surprised when they give them to me."

Fury's face as Coulson ended the call was priceless.

He tapped his fingers on his chest near the tender side of his scar. "JARVIS, how are the children we rescued doing?"

Thor shifted and Coulson watched him as JARVIS rattled off the various conditions of the kids.

"Thank you, JARVIS."

Thor pushed his hair back out of his face. "We will not be required to relinquish Francis to a different authority?"

Coulson glanced at the sleeping heap of people beside him. "I'd like to see someone try to make us. We will need to establish proper identification for him though." That was going to be mildly annoying. He supposed the easiest would be to make Francis Clint's child on paper. Coulson looked at them where they were both flopped all over Stark and everyone was limp in sleep.

Betty sat cross-legged in front of him. "I was not abducted and I won't allow anyone to say I was."

Coulson nodded tiredly. "JARVIS, doesn't Stark have something drawn up to employ Dr. Ross in Stark Tower?"

"The contract for Dr. Ross to become a consultant is stored on the local server, sir."

Betty covered her mouth with her hands. "Oh." She bounced a little. "I...really?"

Coulson nodded and jerked a thumb at Stark. "He does occasionally plan ahead."

She beamed and wrapped up Coulson in a tight hug.


	8. A Hit List for the Hulk

Pepper wasn't pleased. Not that she wasn't used to the feeling from working for Tony for so long. She stared at the tangle of people on the couch. "Are any of you awake?"

Thor smiled at her and put his finger to his lips.

She wanted to know who the hell taught him that one so she could kick them. She crooked her finger at him. She waited by the door as he extracted himself from the nest of people and blankets.

As soon as he was close enough she grabbed his arm and drug him out into the hallway. He smiled widely as he allowed her to pull him with her. She headed for the nearest office.

"Clones?"

He nodded. "Young Francis is a clone of my shield brother, Barton."

"Francis? Since when did he...Nevermind." She rubbed her temples. "Okay. Everyone is alive and in one piece? No anthrax laying around?"

Thor nodded. "We vanquished the Centre, but I am certain they will attempt to regroup. I have not heard of this 'anthrax' you speak of."

She mentally translated that into 'needs a cover story, stat' and she sighed. "Alright. Tony said he needed a school?"

"There were many rescued children with no family to return them to. The Son of Coul has assured me that JARVIS is tracking the healing of them all."

She thought about where to get the money for a school without messing with any of the carefully constructed timetables she had in place. Then it occurred to her. "Did anyone say where the Centre was getting its money?"

Thor shook his head. "I know not, Mi'lady."

Pepper smiled. "Well, we'll just have to see, won't we?"

* * *

Steve hit the punching bag harder as someone came into the gym behind him. He got tired of piddling around and punched with all his strength instead of holding back. The bag went flying.

"Nice one."

Steve didn't turn as he pulled the tape off his hands. "What do you want?"

Coulson settled on the bench against the nearest wall. "I realized that you probably didn't know what anthrax was."

"I could ask JARVIS to look it up."

"And JARVIS would tell Stark in his next report."

Steve huffed. "Tony is a yenta."

Coulson raised his eyebrows. "How much do I need to pay you to get you to say that to Stark's face?"

"Depends." Steve sat down next to Coulson. "So, what is anthrax?" Steve listened carefully as Coulson explained. "So like mustard gas, but far worse?"

"Close enough, yes." Coulson straightened the cuff of the sweater he'd taken to wearing so he wouldn't upset Francis. "Weaponized anthrax has killed a lot of people. And been used to threaten millions."

Steve nodded. "What do they call shell shock now?"

Coulson blinked. "Do you think you have shell shock?"

"No...well, maybe." Steve shrugged. "I meant Tony."

"Ah." Coulson leaned back against the wall behind him. "It is currently called post-traumatic stress disorder, but they are fighting about the name again."

"Shell shock is easier to say, that's for sure." Steve leaned back as well. "What's a clone?"

Coulson sighed and started to explain.

* * *

Bruce had settled into his favorite chair in the room next to the other guy's room. He figured it was better safe than sorry as he pulled up the data from the Centre. He found JARVIS had already arranged it. Presumably for Tony.

Clint appeared in the doorway. "Hey, Doc."

"Hey." He gestured to a chair. "You want to sit down?"

Clint padded slowly over to him and sat on the floor by his feet. "This okay? I just...I need skin contact right now."

Bruce touched Clint's shoulder and gently pulled him closer. "Sure. Whatever you need, Clint."

"They insisted I had killed everyone. Even you. Natasha says it would be hard to kill you." Clint leaned against Bruce's leg. "I was never as happy as when the Hulk came."

He threaded his fingers through Clint's hair slowly. "I take it they lied to you a lot."

Clint hummed as Bruce rubbed little circles on his scalp. "I didn't know how much until I escaped. I thought everybody did sims. I thought all that blood and pain was _normal_." He turned so the back of his head was under Bruce's hand. "The best sim I ever did was Stark being kidnapped as a kid."

"What?" Bruce kept up the movement of his hands so Clint wouldn't know how upset he was becoming.

"It was glorious. I was _brave_. And so very mad. I'd never been mad like that before. I didn't think it'd upset him so much to know." Clint sighed and sprawled more against Bruce's leg. "Thanks, Doc."

Bruce cradled Clint's head in his hand as the man dropped off into sleep. "Not a problem." He took deep even breaths and clicked the tablet onto mute before randomly picking a video and playing it. It was Clint, adult and naked, strung up with flood lights pointed at his face. There were several men taking turns punching various places on Clint, who looked like he was reciting something.

With a tap, Bruce brought up subtitles and read as Clint repeated 'owner of a botnet computer' over and over. Bruce lost it.

The Hulk looked down at the tablet showing mean things being done to his bendy friend, Hawk. He squinted at the bad men as he tried to better see their faces. The tablet suddenly went blank and the Hulk pushed it away from them.

He rubbed his fingers across Hawk's head and frowned at the tears on Hawk's face. He remembered Betty having tears when she have been sad. He gently lifted Hawk up and went looking for his room. The mean Spaceman's small birds might make Hawk happier.

He triggered the door for his room and smiled wide as it opened right up. He gently lay Hawk on the pillows and settled next to him. "Small birds."

The screen came to life with the small birds in their tiny nest and he touched the door control gently. The door slid closed. He couldn't smash the bad men that had hurt his Hawk so he'd just have to make Hawk feel better until he could find the bad men.

Hulk gathered Hawk close to his side and waited for him to wake up to tell him where the bad men were.

* * *

Tony cursed as his main screen flashed him a Hulk alert. JARVIS helpfully popped up a video sub-screen showing Bruce watching some of the Centre footage. He glanced at Francis playing his tablet under the desk and looked for his phone. Finding it he called Natasha. "I need some help."

"You always need help." She sounded amused, which boded well for him talking her into babysitting.

"Come watch the kid for me."

"You are assuming I have a maternal instinct."

Tony rolled his eyes. "Oh, please. I think you have enough brains not to let him kill himself."

"And I should consider that high praise?" She appeared at his glass wall.

He would swear it was teleportation except he'd only finished phase 1 of that project. He clicked off his phone as she came into his workshop. "Hulk just made an appearance and JARVIS seems worried he'll go looking for smash-able targets."

She settled in his chair and flicked her fingers across the screen menus until she had Centre video up and playing. She looked over at him. "Why are you still standing there?"

"What are you watching?"

"Clint's childhood." She settled back in his chair. "I'm memorizing each face that isn't Clint's."

"Ah." Gathering a hit list he could totally get behind. He turned and headed for the bottom level. "JARVIS, how are Clint's vitals?"

"Agent Barton appears to be asleep."

"He didn't wake up? Bruce transformed right beside him." Tony stopped off on Bruce's floor to pick up extra pants to take down.

"He did not, sir. The pattern of Agent Barton's sleep has changed considerably since his rescue."

Tony rubbed his hand across his beard. "As bad as mine after Afghanistan?"

"He is at least sleeping in the presence of his teammates."

Tony wrinkled his nose. "Trust is earned, JARVIS."

"Indeed, sir."

With a grimace, Tony stepped out onto the Hulk's floor. He went down past the room Bruce had transformed in and stopped in front of the Hulk's room. "Let him know I'm out here, JARVIS."

"Right away, sir."

* * *

Francis looked up from his math program to find Tony gone and the pretty lady, Nat, in Tony's chair. "Hello."

She glanced down at him. "Hello." She turned off the screen in front of her with a flick of her fingers. "I'll be here until Tony gets back."

He looked at the door. "Cleaners won't get him, will they?"

She raised her eyebrows. "Since I killed a lot of them and Stark isn't leaving the tower, no, probably not."

He stared at her. "You killed Cleaners?"

"Yes." She frowned. "What?"

Francis carefully crawled out from under the desk and patted Dum-E as he tried to take the tablet from the floor. "Can you teach me how to kill Cleaners?"

"Oh." She blinked and then Coulson tapped on the glass wall. She stood up. "Come on, kid."

He held out his arms like he'd figured out would get Bruce to pick him up. She stared at him for a moment before gingerly hefting him. They went out of Tony's workshop.

Coulson looked amused. "Enjoying motherhood, Natasha?"

"Shut it, Coulson." She grinned at Francis before turning part way back towards Coulson, who was following them. "Francis wants to learn to kill people."

Coulson just patted him on the shoulder. "When you are taller."

Nat snorted. "He ought to at least learn throwing knives."

"I will allow you to teach him defense. Escape and evade, but no, Agent Romanoff, you will not teach him to throw knives."

She made a funny face at Coulson, batting her eyelashes at him. "Throwing knives are defense."

"No wonder Agent Barton remembers Budapest differently."

She laughed at that and pulled Francis tighter to her side. "I'll remember to tell Clint that."

Coulson smiled at her back as they got into the elevator. Francis could feel it even though Coulson's face didn't change much.

* * *

The Hulk jumped as a Voice told him there was someone outside his door. He looked at the door and then wistfully at the screen with the small birds. The screen split and showed him mean Spaceman without his space suit beside the small birds. The Hulk could see that Spaceman was outside his door.

He touched the panel and the door slid open.

"Still talking to me after all, huh, Big Guy?" Spaceman came inside and looked around before settling across from Hawk. "You okay?"

"No smash." Hulk closed his door and pointed at the place the Voice came from. "Voice?"

"Oh, yeah, sorry. That was JARVIS. I thought you might remember him from when you are Bruce, but no, huh?"

Hulk frowned as he thought about it. "Hard."

"Yeah, well, your head changes size and all." Spaceman rubbed his hands together. "You know I'm sorry about having hit you, right? I had to get you out of there before it all collapsed on top of you. I don't want you or Bruce hurt. Not that anyone would believe I'm the sort to protect someone."

"Protect?"

Spaceman ran his hand over the back of his head. "Uh, yeah. Like...like you are doing with Hawkeye." He pointed at Hawk. "You are trying to make sure no one can hurt him, right?"

The Hulk flopped down dejectedly. "No smash. Bad men not here." He looked at the small birds and sighed. The screen changed to little furry brown things that chittered. He glanced at Spaceman, then pointed at the screen.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah. If you sigh it'll change the channel. You like otters?"

"Soft." Hulk cocked his head. "Bad men come for Hawk?"

Spaceman raised his eyebrows. "Not if I have a say." He cocked his head. "What about learning the bad men's faces? Can you remember them the next time you're..." He flopped his hands. "Green?"

He leaned forward to look Spaceman in the eye and was pleased when Spaceman didn't flinch. "Army bad. Marine Coulson friend. Saved Spaceman."

"Huh." Spaceman patted the Hulk's cheek. "Voice will show you things on the screen if you ask." He looked at the screen. "JARVIS, let the Hulk call you Voice so we don't have to try to get him to pronounce your name, alright?"

"Of course, sir. Will the Hulk require...Would the Hulk like to see the bad men?"

Hulk grinned. "Yes."

Spaceman muttered to himself as he moved to sit next to Hawk. "Uh. Have to remember to check the code he used for that subroutine. Changing snantx on the fly for the user when the user is already defined..."

Hulk ignored the Spaceman's soft words. The screen was busy showing him the men he would one day get to smash.

* * *

Bruce lifted his head and cursed. He sat up and rubbed his hand through his hair. "Why the hell can't I control it better? I was doing..."

Tony appeared in the open doorway. "Bingeing."

He looked up at Tony bewilderedly. "What?"

"Your body went a long time without changing. Then you spent nearly a whole afternoon green. You really think you're going to shove it back into a box that fast?"

"I can try." He rubbed his eye as a flashback hit him when he looked at the black screen. "People? The other guy was looking at people?"

"Centre hit list." Tony held a hand out to him. "Agent Romanoff's idea."

"I'm sure." He leaned on Tony for a moment after allowing himself to be pulled upright, before looking around. "Clint was with me...I...I didn't hurt anyone did I?"

"Nah." Tony lead him out into the hallway. "Clint slept right through it. Trauma fatigue and all. Betty was with Pepper doing paperwork to get her stuff moved, maybe annoy General Ross some more. And everyone else stayed upstairs."

Bruce concentrated on remembering. "You showed up without your suit." He pushed Tony into the wall behind him. "Are you completely insane?"

Tony flinched as he hit the wall and closed his eyes. "Do you really think you'd hurt me?"

"Betty said you had to piss off the other guy. You couldn't have been certain he wouldn't still be mad at you."

Tony shrugged. "I wasn't." He grinned. "I hoped."

Bruce shook his head. "You..." He pulled Tony into a tight hug. "Idiot."

Failing for a minute, Tony finally settled down and hugged back.

* * *

Clint lay in the escape tunnel to the right of Bruce and Tony's talking and smiled. It was good Stark was getting help. That they both were. Even if they'd never admit it. He rubbed his shaking hands over his face. Faking sleep was hard. He crawled down the tunnel until he hit the junction with the air ducts. He slithered up into the duct and climbed.

He bypassed the traps he'd put on the tenth floor and stopped to rest on the sixteenth. He finally climbed out of a ceiling on the twenty-third and rode the elevator the rest of the way up.

Francis was laughing as Clint entered the kitchen. He stopped and blinked at Coulson cooking. Nat looked like she was teaching Francis how to aim a fork.

"You aren't teaching him knives?"

Francis looked up and stared at him. It was a little disconcerting because he knew exactly what he was doing when he looked like that. Pretending was second nature. Clint wasn't sure there was anything in his head that was actually his besides his marksmanship.

Natasha smiled. "Coulson vetoed it."

Francis grinned and held his hand over his head. "He said when I'm taller."

Clint settled into the chair across from Francis. "You won't get much taller for a couple of years. If you grow like I did."

"He didn't say how much taller, just taller."

Coulson sat a plate down in front of Francis. "Eat so you'll get taller."

Nat poked the edge of Francis' plate. "What is that?"

Clint used the fork he stole from Nat's hand to flip the split hot dog out of the macaroni and cheese. "Octopus-dog."

Francis frowned. "It is made of octopus?"

Coulson sat down. "No, Francis. It is a beef hot dog cut to resemble an octopus."

"Oh." Francis looked at him and Clint smiled softly.

"Children play with their food."

Francis shook his head. "That isn't allowed."

Clint nodded. "I know." He touched a finger to the back of Francis' hand. "It wasn't allowed, but here in this place with these people...It is totally allowed." He flicked a bit of macaroni up and landed it square on Coulson's nose.

Francis squealed with laughter as Coulson retaliated with a glass of water thrown in Clint's direction. Natasha flipped herself to the top of the counter behind her to get out of splash range and then stared as Francis copied her. Coulson froze when he saw that.

Clint stole Coulson's plate. "Good job, kid. You need to remember to follow clear through. You can't just copy it. You have to think about how your body differs from hers' and compensate for it."

Francis thought for a moment and then flipped himself back into his chair. "Like that?"

Clint pointed with his fork. "Very good. Eat your octopus-dog."

Francis grinned and did just that.


	9. Natasha needs a Hug

Clint sat on the edge of the roof of the tower and listened to the wind. Natasha sat down next to him.

"I watched a sim where you were Banner."

Clint shrugged. "They were trying to figure out what had gone wrong so they could make it work for making super soldiers." He fidgeted with the fletching he'd brought out with him. "They didn't like that I told them it'd never work like it had with Bruce."

Natasha pulled out a knife and a wetstone. "You were drugged after that, right?"

He tucked a foot up under himself. "It was a mass experiment. I still don't know what for. Coming down was a bitch." He looked up at the sky. "We need to introduce Francis to the sky."

She looked at him from the corner of her eye. "He knows what the sky is."

"Knows about." Clint laid back and watched the clouds. "When I escaped I spent four days hiding in a tunnel because the sky felt like it was pressing down on me." He made a face as she looked at him. "I knew it wasn't, Nat. Knowing and feeling are different things."

She leaned her head back to look at the clouds above them. "Some of the children we rescued were having panic attacks during the op."

"Yeah." He smiled grimly. "I was terrified of windows for a couple of weeks. I knew it was irrational, just like the sky, but I kept thinking they would look in and see me." He sat back up. "I liked the circus because, not only were there no paper trails, there were no windows and I got canvas between me and the sky."

Nat nodded. "How does the pretending work exactly? In the few videos between sims you seemed...blank."

"Pretenders are geniuses who can become anyone. Let's say I want to...well, pick a profession."

She looked at him like he was nuts. "Alright. Sniper."

He grinned. "Okay. So, give me either a sniper to talk to or watch, or the textbook on snipers. A couple of hours later and I'd be able to shoot as good or better."

"So, you don't need met the person? Most of the sims I've watched don't have the setup." She tested the edge of the knife she was working on.

"No." Clint flicked the fletching in his hand with a fingernail. "Like the prisoner of war sims. You've watched those?"

She nodded.

"I was supposed to find whether they'd still be alive. How they handled it being in captivity. I didn't have anyone to ask. I had to intuit it all from the videos and files. Pretending in person is more clear."

"Like Francis copying me." She frowned. "If you are pretending, can you predict the outcome? Predict how I'm going to move in a fight?"

"Outcomes, most of the time. Predicting you is harder." He touched his head. "When Loki had me I couldn't pretend. I was just me trapped in my head. It was...wrong." He leaned against her. "I'm usually pretending quite a bit. Some you, some Coulson, a little bit Thor. Since I started living here I've been Banner and Stark a lot."

"Do you learn everything fast?"

He sighed. "Most everything. Sometimes something will be harder than I think it should be. Crochet sucked to learn."

She snorted. "Knitting?"

"Twenty minutes and I was doing lace like a master."

With a laugh, Nat stood and looked down at him. "You've never felt like Coulson to me."

"Thanks, Nat."

* * *

Coulson pushed open the door. "Everyone has a floor." He looked down at Francis staring worriedly up at him. "Except you. Well, and now me. You have a room on the same floor as mine. We are between Clint and the common floor. Alright?"

Francis carefully touched the bedspread. "Alright."

Phil mentally sighed. "Have you ever been outside?"

"The day I met Tony." Francis looked around, craning his neck to see the ceiling. "It was _huge_."

"You'll get used to it." Phil sat down on Francis' bed. "Everyone will make the mistake of thinking you know something when you don't."

"Like the octopus-dog." Francis crawled up onto the bed beside Phil.

"Yes."

Francis pulled on Phil's sweater sleeve. "You aren't a Cleaner. I know that now, so you could wear your armor."

Phil blinked. "I never say it is armor."

"You like to think of it as armor."

"Yes, I do." Phil rubbed his hand across his face. "You shouldn't pretend me like that."

"Why?" Francis wiggled across the bed and hung his head off the side. "You are good."

"Good?" Phil watched Francis nod with his head upside down and Phil bit his lip so he wouldn't laugh at the sight. "Wouldn't you rather be just you?"

Francis lifted his head. "I'm nothing."

"What?" Phil leaned over so he could see Francis' eyes. "What do you mean?"

Francis frowned. "I can't explain it."

Natasha appeared in the doorway and she shook her head at him. Phil felt his stomach clench. He patted Francis on the back. "That's okay. Why don't you explore your room?"

Francis rolled himself off the bed and landed in distinctly Natasha pose. "Yay!" He zipped off towards the closet as Phil closed the door to the room as he stepped out.

"What?"

She shook her head again and wrapped her arm around herself. The other hand came up to snag on his sleeve. "Barton talked to me."

He eased her down the hallway towards his living room. "Okay? And how was that bad? Talking isn't something he likes to do."

"He..." She pressed her lips together in a thin line and shook her head.

He nudged her towards his couch and he settled into an armchair. "He implied that he's just the pretend?"

Nat's head snapped up and she narrowed her eyes at him. "Sometimes I really hate when you do that."

He shrugged. "Isn't hard to work out. When he's really tired, Barton's speech patterns change depending on who he's been near. The recovered information from the Centre seems to indicate that they don't care for the pretenders past what they can do in the simulations."

"He's just so damn cocky. It is hard to see it."

Phil nodded. "I think he's picked up the cockness from Stark."

She snorted. "It couldn't have come from you or Director Fury at all, huh?"

He let himself smile at that.

* * *

Pepper frowned. The Centre had far too many shell companies for comfort. She sorted through the files. She stopped as she came across a fertility clinic. "Huh." She opened it and frowned. "Damn it."

"You don't like to cuss."

Pepper shrieked a little as she jumped. "Francis!" She forced her breathing to slow down. "I thought you were finding a room on Agent Coulson's floor."

"I did." He climbed up beside her and looked at the files. "It is fluffy and soft." He poked at the image for the fertility clinic. "Tony thinks you can do anything."

She glanced around. "Did Tony put you up to this?"

Francis frowned. "Put up? What is that? No." He opened a different file. "Stocks!"

"You like the stockmarket?"

"It is all math. Twisty math." He moved files around, shoving things here and there. The holographic interface expanded to keep pace. "I like math."

"Huh. Okay." She started sorting files as Francis pushed them to her. "We need to appropriate enough money to fund a school and support 87 children."

Francis looked up at her. "I won't have to go there, will I? Tony said I can stay here forever."

Pepper ruffled his hair. "If Tony said you can stay then you'll stay. Tony owns the whole building."

Francis beamed.

* * *

"If the kid is a clone of you, why does he like being under my desk and you like being up there?" Tony waved his hand at Clint's perch.

"I didn't always like heights. Francis is before that."

Tony glared at him. "What did you do?"

Clint tumbled himself off the perch to the floor and came up inches away from a panicking Dum-E. "What makes you think it was my doing?"

"Your phobia, your cure." Tony picked up a grease pen and started marking up the piece of metal in front of himself.

"I'm not you."

"You were that one time."

Clint settled on the top of Tony's desk. "You want the real reason or some made up shit that'll sound true?"

Tony smiled. "I can smell bullshit from a mile away."

He made a noncommittal noise. "You've read the file that says I was homeless for a while."

"Yes, I'm guessing that was right after you got out of there."

"Well, no money, no real understanding of the world, yeah, pretty much."

Tony threw down his pen and focused on Clint. "So?"

"I ended up in a circus. The one sure place to get out of my mentor's way was up in the top of the hightop."

"Ah." Tony tapped his fingers on his arc reactor. "Could you tell me why I didn't see Obie was crazy?"

"I don't need to do a pretend for that, Stark." Clint pushed the plasma cutter towards Tony's elbow. "He went crazy slowly, Tony. You didn't see the change. Just like when you were growing up and didn't notice your hands were bigger until you couldn't fit them into the computer tower casings anymore."

Tony blinked. "Huh." He picked up the plasma cutter and turned it around and around in his hands. "I'm mad they made you live my kidnapping."

"I'm not." Clint nudged Tony's shoulder with his own as he passed Tony on the way out of his workshop. He could feel Tony's stare on his back the whole way.

* * *

Bruce glanced up as Clint settled across from him. "Uh, hi."

"Hey, Doc." He finished one of the equations Bruce had up to occupy Tony. "I, well, I think you should know about one of the sims."

Bruce settled himself with a deep breathe. "I think I can't know about them."

Clint smiled at him. "You should know about this one."

With a small nod, Bruce moved his new favorite tea cup back on the counter. "Alright."

"The Centre was hired by the Army to try to figure out what went wrong with you."

He controlled his breathing, and nodded. "Doesn't surprise me."

"I got assigned the pretend. I..." Clint clenched and unclenched his fist. "I was you."

Bruce's breath stuttered to a stop.

"I told them why it'd never work with the parameters they were using." Clint leaned forward. "They proved me right in Harlem."

Blinking, Bruce licked his lips. "Right about what exactly?"

"Ask Steve what the difference between him and Schimdt was and you'll find the answer." Clint patted Bruce's shoulder. "Doc, don't worry that the Army will get another Hulk because they'll never get another you."


	10. Steve goes Shopping

Steve slipped into the wing of the hospital and stood against the wall. He watched the children. Most of them were on the far side of the room from the windows and the few that were near the windows were pointing to each other about the bird just outside the glass.

He could tell the children all knew he was there and a few were openly staring at him. He frowned at the abandoned toys carefully lined up on a table. The children weren't playing. None of them.

Steve took the bag he'd brought with him and settled in the middle of the floor. He spread sheets of paper around himself. Some at arms' length so that the children could get them without fearing he'd grab at them. Then he opened the Crayolas he'd bought.

"Oh." He'd wondered what colors they could have used to get 200 crayons in a single box. He'd been extremely happy with the 52 color box he'd gotten with the very first of his Army pay. He turned up the box and spilled the crayons out on the floor.

He ignored the way the children had gone very still around him. Steve pushed groups of colors away to the edge of his reach and then picked a color up and started drawing.

He had green so he started with the Hulk. As he finished that he set it aside and picked up another color and a new sheet of paper. He started drawing Black Widow.

"Is this a sim?"

He glanced up to find a tiny girl standing at the edge of his mess. "No. This isn't a sim. I'm Steve."

She sat down and cocked her head. "You destroyed the Centre."

"Uhm. Not just me." Steve pointed at the picture of the Hulk. "The Hulk did a lot of it."

She spread her little hands. "He was _big_."

Steve smiled. "Yeah, he is big. He is my friend." He nudged a crayon towards her with his fingertip. "Here."

She scooted forward and grabbed up the crayon. "Do you know all their names?"

"You mean the Avengers?" He finished Black Widow and turned it so it was right side up to the girl. "This is the Black Widow. She's my friend too."

The girl touched the corner of the sheet. "She carried me. She was worried about all of us." She looked up at him. "Which one was the robot?"

"Robot?" He frowned as he drew Coulson in his sweatshirt, since Steve knew Coulson's suit would bother the children. "Ohhhh. You mean Iron Man."

She started drawing, pausing every little bit to check him. "He flew." She made a plane motion with her hand. "I want to fly."

Steve smiled at her. "You could be a pilot."

"Really?" She turned her head and looked at the huddle of children watching the bird through the window. "Outside is scary."

"You could get used to it." Steve picked up a fresh sheet. "Is this place better than the Centre?"

She made a face at him like he was insane. "Of course it is. The nurses say we are little angels." She moved closer to get a different color crayon. "Do you know what an angel is? We've talked, but none of us know."

"This isn't everyone we rescued, is it?" He knew it wasn't there were only 36 children that he'd counted as he'd come in.

"No. The nurse said we are all the six year olds." She frowned. "I think I'm seven though."

"Oh? Why is that?" He started drawing Iron Man.

She put down her crayon and looked up at him. "I was four when the Centre killed my family. I remember three times when there were staff shortages because they had Christmas. I didn't. I wasn't supposed to remember Christmas, but that makes me seven."

"You remember Christmas, but not angels."

She frowned at him. "I remember the name and that it happened once a year."

"Ah." Steve looked away from her and found he was surrounded by kids. They were creeping closer. He turned his eyes back to the girl. "Do you have a name?"

"Oh. I'm Hanna." She passed a crayon to another child. "What is your name in the blue clothing?" She pointed at the picture of the Black Widow. "I don't think she's called Black Widow all the time. Is she?"

He laughed. "No, she isn't. I am Captain America."

She scrunched up her nose. "I like Steve better."

"Thanks." He finished Iron Man with a little flourish. "Here. You want this one?"

"Is this a test?"

He put the Iron Man drawing in front of her. "Outside of the Centre not everything is a test."

"Uh huh." She handed him the drawing she'd been working on. "Here."

He traded the pictures and tucked the one from her into his bag.

* * *

Steve was exhausted by the time he left the hospital. He checked his watch. It had only been a couple of hours. He looked around at the city sprawled around him. He thought about the bird the children had been fascinated by. Then he grinned.

He pulled his phone from his pocket. "JARVIS?"

"Yes, sir?"

Steve smiled. Tony really was a yenta. "I need to find a farm for sale. Under one hundred acres. We'll need enough room for buildings for that school Tony wants."

"There are five farms meeting your specified criteria."

"Give me the address of the closest one."

His phone screen changed to show him a route. He smiled. "Better than an old paper map. Thanks, JARVIS."

"You are welcome, Captain."

Steve rode until he needed fuel. He fussed with the card that was supposed to pass for money until the pump beeped and gave him a receipt. Finally, he pulled up to the farm. Steve looked it over and quickly decided it wouldn't work.

The second address was much better. It had a huge old house that needed repaired, two large barns, and there was a nice level area that could hold the actual school. Steve found the phone number for the realtor. Then he remembered he needed pictures to show the others.

It took him a few minutes to go back around and take photographs with the phone. That still made him shake his head. What the spies would have given for a camera with a phone all in one.

Steve headed home. He stopped when he saw a sign at the hardware store at the highway junction with the farm's road. He smiled and turned into the parking lot of the hardware store.

* * *

Bruce frowned at Steve as the man handed him a box. He looked down at the box. "Is that peeping?"

Steve grinned and hefted a bag onto his shoulder. "Yes." He lead the way into the elevator. "What were you waiting for me for, Doc?"

"I was wondering... You don't have to answer this, though. What happened that made Schmidt so different from you?" Bruce tried to look in one of the air holes.

Blinking, Steve leaned his head back against the elevator wall. "No, its okay. Dr. Erskine said it was my heart. I was...a better man then Schmidt had been."

"Huh." Bruce looked up from the box. "You know Tony's going to kill you for this?" He lifted the box slightly.

Steve grinned. "Francis is going to love it." He exited the elevator and Bruce followed him.

"True."

* * *

Tony moved the alert from JARVIS about Steve's farm hunting to the main screen over top of the nanofabric that was giving him a damn headache. What the hell did Steve want with a farm? "JARVIS, did he say why he wanted a farm?"

"No, sir. He was at the hospital when he asked for the information."

"Huh." Tony looked over the satellite imaging from the two farms Steve had visited. "Which one did he stay at longer?"

"The second one, sir. Captain Rogers took several pictures at that location."

The pictures appeared up beside the satellite imaging. Tony looked them over. "Buy the second one. Reserve the first just in case."

Tony bounced up and headed for the kitchen. They'd decided to have dinner together when Steve hadn't shown for lunch. When he got there, no one was in the kitchen. Tony frowned and followed noise into the lounge next to the kitchen.

Everyone was gathered around a pen on the floor. Tony peeked around Thor's side and blinked. "Chickens?"

Francis was fascinated. Clint was right there with him. Behind them was Coulson. Steve was pouring feed into a feeder thing.

Bruce grinned up at him. "Chicks, Tony. They aren't called chickens until they are adults."

Francis squealed as one of the chicks stumbled and flapped its little stubby wings.

Tony shook his head, turned on his heel, and left.

* * *

Pepper shook her head at the chicks. "Really, Steve?"

He shrugged. "It was an impulse."

She smiled at him. "Francis seems to like them."

They watched Francis staring at the chicks for several minutes.

"I need to buy a farm."

Pepper looked at him. "The chicks don't require buying a farm, Steve."

"No." He pulled out the phone. "I took pictures. I think it'll work for Tony's school for the children." He shrugged. "The ones I visited this morning didn't know how to play. I want them to have lots of room."

Pepper took the phone and looked at the pictures. "This is promising." She smiled at him. "I'll see to it for you."

"Thank you, Pepper."

She smiled widely as he moved forward to sit next to Francis and watch the chicks.

* * *

Bruce rubbed the swatch of nanofabric. "You still working on this?"

Tony glanced up at him and then back to what he was typing. "I'm...getting there." He looked at Bruce. "What?"

He raised his eyebrows. "You missed seeing Francis touch an animal for the first time."

"No, I didn't." He pointed to a side screen with his coffee cup. "Chickens are obviously bad for the kid's health. I swear he hasn't blinked once."

Bruce settled on the couch. "He's afraid they'll disappear. Clint assured him that you won't make Steve take them back."

Tony threw his head back and then rolled his eyes as he shook his head. "I'm not..." He narrowed his eyes. "You can't make me interact with them."

"I'm not trying to make you, Tony." Bruce frowned. "Have you ever had a pet?"

Dum-E sat another coffee cup down beside Tony's elbow.

"Not so much, no." Tony patted Dum-E on the joint for his claw-hand. "Just robots."

"Betty never has either." He shrugged. "Army brat."

Tony snorted and pushed himself away from his desk with a foot.

"Tony!" Francis barrelled into the workshop. "You saw the chicks?" Francis clambered up into Tony's lap.

Tony froze. "Uh, yeah." He gave Bruce a look of horror over Francis' head.

Francis reached out to Tony's computer and started a new project. "I want to make a feeder robot. There's one chick that isn't getting the same amount as the others." He twisted to look at Tony. "Will you help me?"

Bruce covered his mouth so he wouldn't laugh as Tony was sucked into robot making.

* * *

Betty turned completely around. "The whole thing is for me?"

Pepper walked forward and touched a control for the windows. "The whole thing. Tony goes a little overboard. I'm surprised he hasn't moved everyone else down a floor instead of moving Bruce up one."

Betty frowned as she stood near the windows. "He made Bruce move?"

"Tony didn't make him. He asked and Bruce pretty much jumped on it." Pepper settled on Betty's couch and started working on her pet project to get Centre's financials untangled. "Tony bought an entire farm this afternoon on the off chance Steve wanted it. Well, started the process of buying it."

"And Mr. Stark can just afford to do things like that? I mean I know he's, well, Stark, but..."

"Petty cash." Pepper sighed as she closed another dead end file. "Well, that's what Tony calls it. It is a couple of money market funds. They are easier to move money in and out of on a spur of the moment purchase."

Betty sat down across from Pepper. "What do I need to do to have my things moved?"

"Oh." Pepper checked a file. "Your possessions arrive tomorrow afternoon."

"My whole house?"

Pepper nodded and stood up. "Of course. Your father attempted to have the house declared a crime scene, but we got everything out before he could."

"Oh, that man." Betty followed Pepper to the door. "Thank you. And thank Mr. Stark for me."

Pepper smiled. "I'll make sure to do that."

* * *

Steve smoothed the corner of Hanna's picture as he pinned it to the wall. "Clint."

Clint dropped down from his perch. "What's this?"

"A picture I traded for this morning."

"One of the kids?"

Steve nodded and put the last pin into the picture. He stood back to admire it. "I traded her a drawing of Iron Man for it. She said her name is Hanna."

Clint touched the edge of the paper. "She talked?"

"Yes. She was the only one that did, but I got most of them to draw. A few were busy watching a bird."

With a smile, Clint pulled out his phone and took a picture of the drawing. "So that's where you got the idea for the chicks."

Steve ducked his head a little. "Francis liked them." He sighed. "Tony didn't though."

Clint shook his head. "Nah, Stark likes them."

He gave Clint a weird look.

"Trust me." Clint tapped the drawing. "Not knowing how to handle something doesn't mean the person doesn't like it."

For a long time after Clint left the room, Steve gazed at the drawing of him in his Captain America uniform holding a little girl's hand.


	11. An Unexpected Battle

Bruce frowned at Tony. "That is the stupidest idea ever."

"No. Not really." Tony soldered the next connection on the little feeder robot as Francis watched. "It gives you practice at control and Francis gets to learn not to be afraid of you."

Francis looked up at them. "I'm not afraid of Bruce."

Tony smiled at him. "I know. Not exactly what I meant. Here, turn the casing a little that way...There." Tony touched another wire to fix it in place. "Remember the video Clint showed you of the attack that damaged the city around this tower?"

"Damaged the tower too." Bruce handed Tony another length of wire.

"I remember seeing the video." Francis leaned forward to watch Tony solder the next wire.

"The huge green guy, the Hulk, that was fighting in the video. What did you think of him? And don't decide what to say based on what you think I want to hear."

Francis blinked. "Uhm. Okay." He cocked his head. "He was very big. And..." Francis looked at Bruce then at Tony. "I liked how he punched the one big flying monster in the nose."

Tony snorted as Bruce dropped his face into his hand. With a flourish, Tony put the soldering iron back on its stand. "Bruce is the Hulk. Sometimes. Most of the time he's just Bruce."

Francis looked Bruce up and down. Then he looked at Tony. He slid off the stool he had been sitting on and walked over to Bruce and he lifted Bruce's hand, spread it out, and looked back to Tony. "Bruce is far too small to be the Hulk. And he's not green."

Tony made a smug face at Bruce. "See? Totally needs to met you while you are green."

Bruce shook his head and sighed. "Not happening."

"Fine, whatever." Tony closed up the feeder bot's case. "Okay. Francis, you want to finish the code for this?"

Francis patted Bruce's hand and darted back over to Tony.

Bruce left them arguing over which way to prioritize the feeding schedule for the chicks. He started to head down to his lab, but the elevator didn't arrive as fast as normal. Bruce looked up at the floor indicator to see if it was just the movers holding it open on Betty's or the gound floor. He frowned. The indicator said four floors below Natasha's floor.

"That's weird..." The floor trembled and he heard the distant thump-wham of an explosion. "Oh, shit." He turned and sprinted for Tony's workshop.

Tony shoved Francis at him. "Here, take him. I've got to get the armor on."

Francis was wiggling. "The chicks. They'll take them away and I'll never get to see them grow up!"

Bruce pulled Francis in close to him. "They aren't after the chicks, Francis." He turned and headed for the service elevator shaft. The floor trembled again and the lights quit. The emergency lighting came on.

Behind him, Bruce could hear Tony's armor whirring into place. Slapping the biolock, Bruce looked down the shaft. "Okay. Francis, you know how Tony said I am the Hulk sometimes?"

Francis nodded into Bruce's shoulder.

"I need to be right now, but the other guy...He's never met you. I don't know how that will work out, but I don't think we have much of a choice right now."

They could hear gunfire drifting up from below them. Bruce checked the shaft, but there wasn't anything moving in it.

"I'm not afraid." Francis slid down Bruce's side and he stepped back. "Do it."

Bruce grimaced and concentrated.

* * *

Natasha thought they'd made a stupid mistake in trying to disable JARVIS first. He'd been mid-sentence with Coulson over the next food order when he'd stuttered. Coulson had a gun in his hand before the stuttered word had even finished.

With a snap of her arm, Natasha sent another man to the floor. They were being stupid all around actually. The training wasn't consistent across the group. She thought a few of them weren't even trained.

"Hey, Hawkeye, have you gotten anyone that has proper form yet?"

There was a gasp over her comm and then Hawkeye's voice came through clearly. "Not a damn one."

Natasha exchanged looks with Coulson as he shot another one. "Something is wrong."

"Like a bunch of hired goons invading my _home_ isn't wrong enough, really?" Stark's voice sounded less stressed than had become normal lately. He was enjoying himself.

"They are cheap hired goons."

"Well, shit." Tony's armor appeared from around a corner. "Pepper said she had tracked some of the money to Africa, but she'd not worked out if what we did in Blue Cove disabled the other end."

Coulson flipped his phone closed. "I don't think it did. The hospital isn't answering."

Natasha felt like kicking someone in the head. "Hawkeye, did you hear all that?"

"Got it. I'll get Bruce."

Tony snapped his faceplate down. "I'll pick up Cap and get Thor."

"We'll meet you there."

Natasha nodded and followed Coulson.

* * *

Steve punched the last man as he attempted to attack Thor. Steve thought about just letting him break his arm on Thor's armor, but it felt better to drop the man himself.

"Cap!"

Iron Man crashed through a window and he batted the body of the man Steve had just punched out of his way. "This is a diversion. They've gone after the kids."

Steve grabbed Tony's shoulder and stepped up onto the armor's boots. "Let's go."

"You sure? This isn't the easiest way you could get there."

"I'm certain." Steve made sure his sheild wouldn't be in Tony's way and nodded.

Tony centered himself and took off. Thor followed them out into the sky.

* * *

Pepper hit the downed goon with the cast iron frying pan one more time for good measure.

"I'm pretty sure if you hit him again he is going to die."

Pepper looked up and grinned at Betty as she zip tied the mover-from-hell to the reinforced chair. This had been Bruce's floor after all. "He'll wish he died when I'm done with him." She kicked the guy in the shin. "I broke a heel. Again!"

Betty patted Pepper on the arm. "Maybe we should check on the others?"

"Oh, Francis!" Pepper opened her phone. "Happy? No, we're fine. Can you check the power supply? Tony's off hitting people and I need JARVIS' power back on. They cut both backups and the secondaries to the big arc reactor."

Betty waited for Pepper to finish and close her phone. "Happy?"

"Happy is his name. He is usually our driver, but he's been helping with the recovery efforts for the last few weeks." Pepper flopped down onto the couch. "They had better not have hurt Francis or the chicks."

Looking around, Betty grinned. "At least they moved everything up here before they attacked."

Pepper giggled hysterically for a while.

* * *

Francis craned his neck to try to see Bruce's face. "You are _huge_."

Bruce picked him up gently, his whole hand was bigger than Francis' back. "Friend?"

Francis gasped as they stepped out into the elevator shaft and started dropping. "Yes?"

"Tiny boy." Bruce held his other hand out and Francis knew what to do with that. He held his own hand back out and they shook, Bruce's finger and thumb to Francis' whole hand. "Hulk friend."

"Hulk. I'm Francis." Francis squeaked as they landed at the bottom, above them doors started to roll closed just over the Hulk's head.

Clint slid down through the closing gap of the blast doors. "Sorry, I'm late. Untrained enemies can be harder to fight. Stupid people that can't die right."

Francis was set down onto his feet. He looked up at Clint, who was shifting his gaze between Francis and the Hulk. "He's huge."

With a smile, Clint scooped him up. "He is. Hey, Hulk, can you open your room up? We need to stash Francis and then go to the hospital."

Francis watched avidly as the Hulk pressed a control on the wall and a door opened. "I thought the power was out."

"Tony said this runs separately with the controls under the Hulk's room." Clint looked down at him. "This is really important, Francis. There's a human sized one-way door in the bathroom, but other than that there is no way out unless the Big Guy opens the door for us."

Francis was plucked from Clint's arms and the Hulk looked at him closely.

"Safe in Hulk's room."

Nodding, because he could tell they meant it, Francis blinked as he was settled into a pile of pillows.

The Hulk looked up at a blank screen. "Small birds."

The screen flared to life with baby hummingbirds.

"Oh, wow."

Clint crouched down beside him. "I promise we'll be back soon. Okay?"

Francis grabbed him into a hug. "Just don't die."

Hulk wrapped them both into a hug. "Friends."

* * *

Captain America dropped the last few feet from Iron Man to the ground. The hospital looked like a warzone. He scrambled up through the gaping hole where the window the kids had been watching the bird at had been.

Steve stepped over scattered pages of drawings and found a body. It was an invader, but they were incapacitated. He blinked and touched the crayon sticking out of the man's nose.

Tony flipped his face plate up. "Wow, that has to hurt."

"You find anything?"

"Other than a shit ton of heat signatures in the walls and the knocked out goons? Nope. Not a thing." He tilted his head. "How do we tell them they can come out of the air ducts?"

Steve looked around until he found the big return air vent. He crouched down at it and pulled the cover off. The child inside brandished a food tray at him.

"Stay out!"

Steve gripped the edge of the tray. "Hey. Stop, stop."

A pair of huge eyes appeared over the top of the tray. And then Hanna burst into tears. "I tried to fight them!" She threw herself forward and Steve caught her up gently, wrapping her in the protection of his shield.

He soothed her and tried not to listen to hard to her babble that she's pretended to be Captain America. He made sure to get her food tray shield before he took her outside.

* * *

Tony finally relaxed when they did the third head count and came out with the right amount of kids. Hanna's age group had been one of the three groups targeted. All the youngest ones. The easiest targets. The tiniest ones had been defended by their nurses, whereas Hanna's group's nurses had been overwhelmed.

The few injuries to the hospital staff were relatively minor. None of the kids were physically hurt, but Tony could see a few that weren't focusing at all. Hanna was still attached to Steve like a limpet and Tony began mentally shifting around the common floor to handle her when she got old enough she wouldn't want to share the same floor with Coulson and Francis.

* * *

Coulson picked up a sleeping Francis with careful movements. "Thank you, Hulk."

The Hulk made a wistful sound and then sat down in the hallway and started to shift. Coulson hitched Francis' dead weight a little higher as he waited for Banner to get done shifting. It looked like it hurt a lot.

Bruce sighed and stood up. He took a step, staggered, and then caught himself on the wall. "They better not have blown up my bed."

Coulson smiled and eased himself under Banner's closer arm. "Two claymores. One two floors down from Natasha, and one on the 12th floor. Three windows, and one chair."

"The chicks?"

"All accounted for. Alive." Coulson had checked on them the instant he'd gotten back. By the time they had let the Hulk out of the troop transport, Coulson had been done counting and was back downstairs waiting for the blast doors for the Hulk's level to get overridden by Stark.

"Oh, that's good." Bruce leaned on Coulson a little more with each step. "Did they get any of the children?"

Coulson smiled just a little. "No. Hanna's group was almost taken, but she _pretended_ to be Captain America and used a food tray for a shield."

"Oh. Tell me someone got a picture of that."

"Several pictures. Stark stashes a phone somewhere in the armor."

Bruce snorted and closed his eyes as they rode the elevator up.


	12. Talking about the Centre

Bruce hitched the tattered remains of his pants higher as they stepped out of the elevator. Francis mumbled into Coulson's shoulder. Coulson soothed a hand down the boy's back.

"You are really good with him."

Coulson glanced over Francis' head at him. "Thank you." He turned a little sideways to get into the living room they were using for the brooder for the chicks. "Now that you know the Hulk will protect him it might be easier for you to relax around him."

Bruce took Francis and eased him down onto the couch with the eat-you-cushions. "You are assuming I'm tense around him in the first place."

"Body language."

"Ah." Bruce knelt down and tapped the feeder to estimate the amount in it. "It isn't the other guy that worries me so much with Francis. I'm...You've read my history in a file somewhere I'm assuming?"

Coulson nodded and settled down at Francis' feet. "If becoming like your father is what you worry about, you don't need to."

Bruce rubbed his hand through his hair. "Really? I learned abusive patterns from a very early age. That affects a person as an adult." He frowned and edged towards the door. "I just don't want to hurt him."

Coulson nodded. "If it would help, know that I would stop you if needed." He smiled softly. "There won't be a need, but if there ever were, I would."

Bruce's single handed grip on his waistband tightened. "Good. That's...good to know."

* * *

Steve waited around the corner of the hallway until Bruce retreated into the elevator. Then he moved forward and stepped into the room. Coulson was covering Francis with a blanket. "I need a little help."

Coulson looked up and grinned. "She is very tiny."

"I just make her look small." He turned. "I can't get her hand loose and I'm afraid to wake her."

Coulson came over to him and reached up to see how Hanna had her hand wrapped in the seam of his uniform. "She said she pretended to be you."

"Yeah. Clint said that she meant like him or Francis. That she _became_ me. I...I admit that it bothers me."

"Is it about the gender difference?" Coulson worked Hanna's tiny fingers out from under the seam's fold one by one.

Steve blinked and looked over his shoulder. "Why would you think that?"

"The time you originally come from has far more rigid views on gender roles. Well, on most equality related things. I'm almost hopeful that JARVIS is filtering the internet for you."

"I think the moon landing surprised me more than anything." Steve shrugged as Coulson moved Hanna's arm back over his shoulder. "People as a whole don't change. What they say to society and therefore what society says back, that changes, but individuals...well, take the Howling Commandos. I didn't choose them because of their skin color or race or even gender."

"Alright. Then what bothers you about Hanna?"

"She is more herself than the others." Steve frowned as they lay Hanna down at the other end of the couch from Francis. "Clint has had time to build his own sense of self. I think he's a mishmash of a lot of people as well, but...Francis is just not there in a way sometimes."

"I've seen that, yes." Coulson thought of the way Francis hadn't moved anything in his room. None of the toys or jumped on the bed, nothing like a typical child.

"She's different." Steve stretched his arm that he'd been holding Hanna with. "She knows her name and had an estimate of her own age. She likes Iron Man. To have her just blank all that out to replace it with _me_ is...horrifying."

"Most of us know our names. Or at least the name they gave us." Clint came on into the room and settled beside the border. "Francis had a number because he was a clone. They did the same thing with Jarod's clones."

Steve started stripping his gloves off. "This Jarod, was he amongst the ones we got out?

Clint shook his head. "No. He escaped years ago. He is considered by the Centre to be much better than the rest of the Pretenders. Most of the time when they'd say I failed they'd compare me to Jarod."

Coulson raised his eyebrows. "Is Jarod your age?"

"Older, I think." Clint turned the waterer a little to the left. "It is hard to tell because the Centre is breeding generations of kids. I'm not actually sure I ever met him."

Steve swallowed. "Breeding?"

Clint rubbed his ear. "Oh, uh, I don't suppose anyone showed you in-vitro fertilization information?"

Coulson sighed. "No. There wouldn't have been any need."

"Right." Clint stood up. "Come on into the next room once you've changed out of your uniform and we'll give you a crash course."

Steve nodded and hurried to shower and change.

* * *

Tony ran another check to make sure the power outage hadn't hurt JARVIS. The assholes had thrown the breakers and then jammed them in the off positions. Happy had said it had taken him nearly ten minutes to get them all fixed. "You are sure you are okay?"

"As with the last seven times you have asked, yes, sir."

"Okay, okay. I just...worry." Tony looked at the hacks running on the secondary screen. He was almost into the files he needed. "Since you are up and running buy at least three other farms to match Steve's."

"Do you wish to have all of the transactions to close at the same time?"

"Closer together the better. Mask my name as much as possible. Put them under at least three different names."

"Becoming modest, are we, sir?"

Tony snorted. "Once you've gotten that started begin checking DNA on the children. Start with the girl-child Steve brought home."

"What are you looking to find, sir?"

"Something that will make Pepper cry." He flicked open a video file from where Cleaners held down Clint while they drew blood from him. "Is Barton awake?"

"Yes, sir."

Tony spun out the hacks and set himself an alert for when the files cracked open like an egg. "Good."

* * *

Natasha woke up. "What?"

Clint eased back from the edge of the bed. "Sorry. I couldn't hear you breathe."

She squinted her eyes at him. "You know to make you-sounding noise. What is wrong?" She sat up and rolled her head on her neck. "And remember I've gotten about two hours sleep."

He looked worried. "I could come back." He jerked his thumb over his shoulder as he said it.

She swept her leg out and caught him behind the knee. He dropped partway and turned it into a move to sit on the floor. She flopped back down on her side so their heads were almost level. "Just shut up and tell me."

He started to open his mouth to retort and she pointed at him. He grinned at her and eased himself around so he was leaning sideways against her bed. "Stark talked to me about the Centre."

"Yeah?" She snaked a hand out and settled her hand on the back of his neck.

He eased his shoulder down from the hunching up around his ears they'd been headed for. "He thought to test the DNA of the kids."

"Hanna is yours."

Clint blinked. "Yeah...I...Wait, how'd you know? I didn't until he said." He fluttered his hands around his knees.

"I've gone through all the videos with you in them." She squeezed her hand lightly. "They did things to you that the adults who trained me wouldn't have even considered."

He shrugged like it didn't matter.

She made herself not hit him.

He smiled at her like he knew what she had been thinking of doing. "Fertility clinics that look like they are helping couples, but really are just there to find people to park the child with for the diaper years. I mean, I knew about that, but..." He wrapped his hands around his knees and squeezed. "They made me give them all sorts of bodily fluids for tests. I never once thought they were..."

Natasha pulled his head over to rest on the edge of the bed. "I'm sure Stark has a list of the clinics by now. We'll burn them all to the ground, alright?"

He snorted and brought up on shaky hand to touch her forearm. "Yeah." He closed his eyes. "Yeah, that would be good."

She rubbed her thumb up into his hair until he was limp and snoring. Then she shifted enough to kiss him on the top of his head. "They will pay."

* * *

Pepper sat down her fork as she fussed with the information on the screen in the tabletop. Tony had forwarded her the Centre's recovery plan files at four in the morning. She was going to sic Steve on the man if JARVIS didn't report Tony has having fallen asleep by nine.

Coulson sat down across from her and sipped his coffee. "Good morning."

She smiled at him. "Morning. The kids?"

"Chicks." He almost smiled. "Hanna is just as entranced as Francis."

"Tony seems to think Hanna is Clint's child. I'm trying not to think what all Tony has hacked to get Clint's DNA information."

Coulson shrugged. "Stark's ability to infiltrate SHIELD databases is a training exercise nowadays."

She snorted as she brought her hand up to cover her mouth. "Oh, no. Really?" She shook her head as he nodded and with a hand motion had another file up in front of them. "Francis ran a mock stock program while I was trying to sort out shell companies. Look at this." She twisted the relevant file around to show him.

"Well, we won't have to worry about his college fund."

"Hah." She flicked the file away. "He's just so...young."

Coulson took another sip of coffee. "They all are."

* * *

Bruce woke up to Betty looking down on him. "Uhm. Morning."

She cocked her head. "Morning sleepyhead. Why are you on my couch?"

He smiled. "Forgot this wasn't my floor anymore and then was too tired to go on upstairs."

"Oh, okay." She backed up and gestured to the boxes around her. "Tony scanned everything and said there aren't any bugs or scanning devices in anything. What to help me unpack?"

He sat up. "You okay with living here? We can get you your own place."

"And give up the electronic butler that informs me where you are anytime I ask? No a chance."

"Yeah, okay." He looked down at himself. "Uh. I'll just... go get some clothes that aren't in tatters."

Betty giggled. "That would probably be good."

* * *

Tony was going through the battle information when it hit him. "JARVIS, did the men that invaded the hospital have any means of transporting the kids out?" He scrambled for the police report files.

"It appears they did not."

"Damn it." Tony started looking at the suit data. He didn't normally check for what he was thinking about now. "Are any of the children showing illnesses this morning?" He finally found a inventory of the men had been booked as having had. He scanned down it until he found canisters. He opened the detail up. Empty canisters. Shit.

"Not as yet, sir."

"Keep me posted." Tony picked up his coffee cup and headed for the common floor.

He stuck his head into the chickens' room to find both the kids watching them. Tony went on down the hallway to the kitchen. Steve came from the other direction and they went into the kitchen.

"We need to talk to Hanna about the invasion."

Pepper frowned at him. "Tony, she's been traumatized."

Coulson held out his hand towards Pepper and she went quiet. "What is the concern, Stark?"

Tony dumped his cold coffee and got new pouring into his cup. "The plan wasn't to recover the kids." He took a gulp of the coffee, JARVIS always made it to just the right drinking temperature right out of the spout. "They were trying to infect them with something, the file doesn't say what."

Hanna's tiny hand appeared over the edge of the table and then her head as she pushed herself up into a chair. "Francis said we could maybe have octopus-dogs that aren't made with octopus."

Coulson got up. "You can." He dug into the refrigerator. "Hanna, do you remember there being bad smelling smoke last night? Smoke at all?"

She folded her hands together and glanced at Steve. "They throw a can into the vent that was hissing, but I knocked it back out with my shield. Then it smoked."

Francis climbed into a chair next to her. "See? I told you he wasn't a Cleaner."

She smiled at him. "He knows what an octopus-dog is."

"It doesn't have actual octopus." Francis looked up at the rest of the adults. "Is that something I'm not supposed to know?"

Pepper smiled at him. "Oh, no, honey, that is fine. Most of us just haven't heard of octopus dogs."

Francis grinned. "Phil made them and then Clint flicked food at Phil and then Natasha did this..." He flung himself backwards out of the chair to the counter.

"Holy shit. He's River Tam."

Hanna frowned and turned to Francis. "I thought you were named Francis."

He looked at Tony. "I did too. Am I supposed to be River Tam?"

Pepper had to stretch to reach, but she did and she smacked Tony on the arm. "Don't reference things they haven't seen."

Tony made flappy motions with his hands. "How can I not? They haven't seen...pretty much everything."

Steve walked around until he could crouch between the children. "Tony didn't mean your name was different. He meant you reminded him of someone else."

Francis relaxed and then scrambled off the counter. "Oh. Okay."

Hanna leaned over onto Steve's shoulder. "We don't have to ever have new names, do we?"

Coulson sat down macaroni and cheese topped with octopus-dogs in front of her. "Never, Hanna. We will make sure of that."

She squealed and started to reach with her fingers before freezing and reaching for a fork. Francis bounced as Coulson sat a plate in front of him.

"Tomorrow we'll make breakfast foods."

* * *

It wasn't often Coulson came to her for a shoulder to lean on, but Natasha was happy she could be there when he did. She shifted a little more weight into his side, testing to see if it made him wince.

"Stop it."

She smiled. "Can't help it."

He sighed. "They are...so broken."

"I heard she didn't scream at your suit and tie."

Coulson nodded. "Francis had warned her." He rubbed his hand across his chin. "I should have done something when I first learned about the Centre."

She pinched the back of his hand. "Stop it. You were a junior agent. They were a global monstrosity."

"That shouldn't have stopped me." He sighed.

"I've noticed being outnumbered or outgunned doesn't faze you." She frowned. "They killed several people that questioned their methods. One that was getting children out. They shot her in front of the woman's own daughter."

"Still."

She nodded. "I know." They sat there for a while. "Did Barton sleep in your room last night?"

"Yes. He seems to be rotating through the team."

"Hmm." She waited a few moments. "What exactly are we doing with the chicks when they get big enough to be outside?"

He laughed. It was short and turned bitter at the end as he clutched at his chest, but she welcomed it regardless.


	13. Not Dead?

Clint settled down beside Hanna and Francis to watch the chicks.

Hanna looked at him out of the corner of her eye. "You hurt."

Francis peeked at him from around the side of Hanna's head. "Like Tony."

With a sigh, Clint reached in and picked up one of the chicks. "Hanna, how much do you remember about your parents?"

She reached out to touch the chick in his hand carefully. "Not much." She looked up at him. "I remember Mom always said they loved me. And just because Dad wasn't who the doctor place used to make me didn't mean I was any less theirs."

Clint nodded. "The Centre used the doctor place, a clinic, to make more Pretenders."

Francis looked from Hanna to Clint and back. "They made Hanna from your sperm."

Hanna turned her head to stare at Francis.

Clint grimaced. "They did, yes." He sat the chick back in the brooder. "I never thought about having children."

Hanna looked at him and then set her tiny hand on top of his. "I'd like to have a parent again."

He grabbed her up against his chest. "Okay." He pulled Francis in from where he was hovering near them. "Okay."

* * *

Coulson kept his face bland as another agent gasped and backed away fast. He hadn't thought to check that his continued existence had been announced to the rest of SHIELD. Another agent's eyes widened and they dropped the files they were carrying. Phil started to stop and help them pick the files up, but the agent started to hyperventilate, so he backed off and went on. He would have snagged a passing agent to help the one he'd left, but they kept running away.

He came onto the bridge and watched Hill's face got slack in shock for a bare moment before she was demanding to know where his reports were and why they were late. Phil stepped up beside Fury.

"Dead agents don't file reports." He let a bit of smug into his expression as she paled and ducked out of sight around the other side of Fury. He looked over the screen to Fury's right that showed the repairs in progress to the helicarrier. "Morning, Boss."

"Agent Coulson." Fury turned and headed away. "Walk with me."

He fell in step and they moved through the corridors. Less agents ran away, but more openly stared. Phil fought the urge to straighten his tie. "The Council?"

Fury shut his door behind them and leaned against the edge of his desk. He sighed as he crossed his arms. "They are going to allow the Centre to sue SHIELD for the theft of their property. All internally at the Council's discretion."

"Property?" Phil jerked his head to the side to try to ease the sudden tension in his neck. "Sir, with all due respect to the Council: Fuck that."

Fury smiled. "My thought exactly. I have made it clear to the Council that their priorities are not ours." He rubbed a hand down his face. "The response was not...reassuring."

"An attempt on the children was made. They were trying to infect them with something."

Fury frowned. "It could be as simple as the chicken pox. I wouldn't expect the Centre to have properly inoculated subjects that they never expected to see the light of day."

"Boss, at least one of the children is Agent Barton's." Phil watched Fury still and then he turned towards the desk.

"Make sure Barton files an amended personnel file."

"I filed it when I arrived." Phil squared his stance. "Boss, how often has SHIELD utilised the Pretender program?"

"Twice." Fury sighed and sat down. "Howard Stark went ballistic when he found out about the Centre. It existed before SHIELD and we were kept separate. The Centre was shunted under the Triumvirate to better mask them from us. Want to guess when he found out?"

"Several days to a week before his fatal car accident, Boss?"

"Four days." Fury leaned back in his chair. "Couldn't connect the two of course. Howard was quite the drinker by then, so the official story held water easily."

Phil pursed his lips. "What were the sims?"

"Sims?"

"Simulations, Boss."

"Ah." Fury pushed two files across the desk at Coulson. "One was an attempt to track HYDRA. The other was an attempt to figure out who was behind the kidnapping of Tony Stark, age five."

Phil nodded. "Conclusions?"

"Nothing useful." Fury gestured to the files. "Protect our people, Agent."

Coulson gathered up the files as he nodded. "I would do nothing less, Boss."

* * *

Bruce gasped and stared down himself as Francis buried his head against Bruce's knee. "Uh, hi."

"You aren't green now!" Francis held out his arms and Bruce picked him up. Francis grinned at him. "You get lots taller when you change."

"Uhm." He adjusted his glasses as Hanna came closer to stare up at him. He looked Francis over carefully. "You weren't scared of him."

Francis shrugged. "He is lots less scared now that he has his own room. He showed me hummingbird babies." Francis patted Bruce on his shoulder. "You shouldn't be so afraid of him."

Hanna touched his knee. "Why did you pick Francis up?"

He smiled at her. He adjusted his hold on Francis so he could bend down and pick up Hanna. She gasped and her eyes went wide. Then she smiled and giggled as she tried to figure out where to put her hands.

Francis caught one of her hands and pressed it to Bruce's shoulder. "Hold here. And wrap your legs around his waist."

Hanna craned her neck to see what Francis meant. She squeezed her knees into his ribs and Bruce hitched them both a little higher. "Are both of you feeling alright?"

They both nodded.

Hanna kneaded her hand in the fabric of his shirt. "How do I get other adults to lift me?"

Bruce moved forward and sat both of them on the edge of the counter. "You lift up your arms and hold them out some." He handed them each a plate. "Don't be surprised if Tony doesn't understand what you mean. And Natasha may not be willing to pick you up."

"She picked me up." Francis turned his plate clockwise until Hanna started to copy him. "Do you mean she might not always pick us up?"

"Uh, yeah." Bruce looked them over. "Vegetables?"

Hanna lit up. "Carrots? I like carrots."

Bruce smiled. "Carrots. Okay." He moved towards the refrigerator. "What about you Francis?"

"I'll wait."

He looked around the edge of the door to watch Francis stare down at his plate. "Well, okay. Do you have a favorite vegetable?" Francis stared at him with the look that Bruce had come to associate with pretending. "No. Francis, pick for yourself."

"I...don't know." Francis shoved the plate from his lap and then started to cry when it shattered on the floor.

"Okay." Bruce wiggled his bare toes and closed the refrigerator door. "Don't break a plate next time. You can just say you don't know."

Hanna looked over the edge at the mess, then up at Bruce. "You aren't mad."

With a shrug, Bruce watched as the robot that cleaned the floors came out and started cleaning up the plate shards. "Should I be?"

She frowned. "Not knowing is bad. Being bad isn't allowed."

Bruce moved closer now that the floor was clear. "Francis, Hanna, I know that all of this is scary. That we are expecting things from you both that can be hard to understand." He touched Francis' closer knee. "None of us will punish either of you for not knowing something."

Francis knelt up and grabbed onto Bruce's shirt. He buried his face in Bruce's shoulder. "I don't know what I like. I'm sorry."

He rubbed Francis' back. "Shh. It's okay, Francis. We'll just try all the vegetables so you can figure out what you like."

Hanna patted Bruce's hand on Francis' back. "We didn't think you'd hit us."

Bruce froze. Tony appeared at his shoulder. "Hey, lunch isn't ready? You are all lazy. Come here, girl child."

Hanna giggled and launched herself at Tony. "You worry."

Tony swept her up and deposited her on a chair at the table. "Only a little and not about hitting." Tony sorted through the fridge as Bruce took Francis to the table. "I want chicken nuggets. Have you two had those before?"

Bruce took a deep breath as the kids shook their heads.

Tony beamed at them. "Oh, you'll like them. You eat them with your fingers." He wiggled his fingers at them and Francis gave a watery smile in return.

Natasha breezed in. "Is Coulson back yet?"

Bruce sat down next to Francis and let him climb into his lap. "I have no idea."

"He is on his way back. Should be here in time to eat." Clint settled at the end of the table and rolled a ball to Hanna. "Here. Bouncy ball."

She caught and looked it over. "It sparkles."

Francis caught the next ball. "Swirls, neat." He looked at Clint. "Bouncy?"

Clint mimed bouncing it. "Try it. Small bounce."

Hanna bounced hers and laughed. She held it down to stop the bouncing. "What lesson is this for?"

Bruce exchanged looks with Tony. Natasha looked at Clint who smiled softly.

"No lesson." Clint gestured to everyone. "It unnerves people if you don't play. Children play. You both have the urge to before your training makes you stifle it. So, no lesson, but...I would like you to bounce your ball each time you have the urge to play. Go a bounce pass comfortable and then follow your training."

The confusion on Francis' face cleared. "Oh."

Hanna frowned and turned towards him. "What?"

"Our training breaks down if we disobey it enough."

"Oh!" Hanna grinned and bounced her ball. "Is chicken nuggets breaking our training? Tony says we eat them with our fingers."

Natasha caught Hanna's ball out of the air and rolled it back across the table to Hanna. "You can eat them with utensils if you want. They are easier to dip when you use your fingers."

Bruce gently pulled Francis' ball from his hand and bounced it gently. Francis giggled as he caught it.

"Dip?" Hanna bounced the ball to Natasha, who bounced it to Clint. Tony batted Francis' ball into a roll from Bruce lobbing it at him.

Steve leaned against the counter. "Dip?"

"For the chicken nuggets."

Steve glanced around at them. "What is a chicken nugget?"

Coulson dropped a couple of files on the kitchen counter as he moved across the room to get himself down a coffee cup. "Chicken nuggets are small pieces of chicken that are breaded and fried. They are usually eaten with sauce that the nugget is dipped into."

Bruce watched as Coulson tipped Francis' face up and then carefully wiped at the remains of the tear trails.

Thor came in with a chick in his hand. "The chicks are much bigger today."

With a laugh, Bruce got up to rescue the chick from Thor and give himself a minute alone to just breathe as he put the chick back.

* * *

Tony frowned at the latest test results for the children. No one was showing symptoms yet, but depending on what they'd been exposed to it could be ten days yet. He rubbed his hand across his face and blinked when he found Francis standing by the edge of the desk staring at him.

"Hey."

Francis climbed into a chair. "Hello." He patted Dum-E, who had come over to investigate. "How do I make Bruce feel better?"

"What?"

"I upset him." Francis frowned and made a push motion with his hand. "I broke a plate because I was scared and trying to distract him. It made him really mad at himself." He looked up at Tony. "How do I fix it?"

"Oh. Uh." Tony shut down the screen in front of himself. "Did you ever run simulations where the person was bad because their parent had hurt them a lot when they were little?"

Francis nodded. "Serial killers sometimes."

Tony wrinkled his nose. "Okay, yeah. Well, see...Now I've not told Bruce I know about this, but when the Army wanted SI tech...Nevermind that." Tony sighed. "Bruce's father wasn't nice to Bruce."

"Oh." Francis patted Tony's hand. "He didn't hurt me."

"No, he just worries that he will." Tony rubbed his hand across his chin. "We all worry that we'll hurt you without meaning to." He narrowed his eyes at Francis. "You can't tell anyone I said that though. It'll ruin my uncaring reputation."

In the vent above the corner perch, Clint smiled as Francis asked another question.

* * *

Hanna frowned at everyone asleep around her expect Thor. "Why did they insist we watch a movie if they are all going to sleep through the end?" She held out her arms to test the pick up posture.

Thor gently plucked her out of the middle of the pile and carried her as he went into the next room with the chicks. "It appears to be a Midgardian tradition."

She watched the chicks sleepily peeping. "You are happy and sad all together. Is that normal for you?"

He adjusted her against his chest. "No. I have lost a family member. A brother. And I have come to decide I will not regain him as I had hoped."

"What happened?"

Thor began to sway back and forth slightly. "If I tell you the story of my brother, will you tell me the story of Lady Hanna?"

She yawned. "Okay."

He rambled about his childhood with Loki until she started to warm in the way of sleeping Midgardian children. Then he carefully placed her into the nest of blankets, pillows, and his sleeping friends.

Thor settled against the edge of the group and guarded their slumber.


	14. Tony in a Meeting? Oh, dear

"You were right. It is armor."

Phil tried not to smile at Hanna's high pitched voice as she whispered to Francis. He pushed the sleeves of his workout shirt up to his elbows.

Natasha caught her hair back into a ponytail. "What do you mean armor, Hanna?"

Hanna looked up from where she was pulling off her shoes, her bouncy ball trapped under one knee. "Phil's suit is his armor. Francis said so. He's all..." She waved a tiny hand in his direction. "Softer now."

Francis looked at her out of the corner of his eye and then turned his head to look at Phil. "She doesn't mean that in a bad way."

Phil did smile then. "I know." He lifted Hanna when she put her arms up, because he had agreed with the rest of the adults that reinforcing anything the kids choose or wanted for themselves was very important. He sat her down on the mats. "Remember what I said?"

She nodded and rolled her ball between her palms. "Don't make sharp noises. Don't go inside of the square." She pointed to the square in front of them. "And no using what I learn unless I'm practicing or it is an emergency."

Francis settled beside her and Phil nodded at them both.

He moved out to the middle of the square and waited for Nat to finish kicking off her shoes.

Steve settled behind the kids. "You know I wasn't ever given lessons in hand-to-hand combat beyond a small amount in training and actual fighting. Do you mind if I watch as well?"

Phil shrugged. He knew he was going to go down. It was just a matter of how fast.

Natasha grinned at them. "Sure, Cap." She moved in and Phil tensed up, ready for the first attack.

* * *

Clint adjusted his quiver's strap and started again. He tried to let his mind clear until it was just his target and the arrow he wanted in it, but it wasn't working. Oh, he was hitting the targets. It just wasn't bringing him the normal peace it usually did. He let his arms drop with a sigh.

"Perhaps a poptart will bring you a measure of happiness, my friend."

Clint turned and accepted the poptart from Thor. It was cooling fast, so Clint broke it open and handed back half of it. "I don't think poptarts can fix this one, buddy."

Thor set down on the low wall that separated them from the range itself. "Perhaps not." He cocked his head. "What is worrying you so?" He ate the poptart half in one bite.

He packed away his bow as he chewed. He swallowed and dropped to sit next to Thor. "I suddenly have a kid. Well, two. And what the hell do I know about raising children? I'm not even certain I'm a person most of the time, you know?"

Thor took an arrow from the handful Clint had set on the low wall. "No parent feels secure in their ability to rear their children." He turned the arrow so the point tapped the floor between them. "Only you can find worth in yourself." Thor held out the arrow to Clint. "Should it help, I believe you are more than the arrows you launch."

Clint took the arrow. "Thanks." He frowned. "Why do you go visit Foster instead of asking her to come here?"

"My Jane is busy with her research." Thor looked wistful. "If travel between this realm and Asgard is to be restored, Jane's research must be completed."

Clint nodded. "I thought your people could rebuild the Biforst."

"They will." Thor stood and offered his hand to Clint. "It will take time. As with all things."

Clint let Thor pull him upright. "You're right. Let's find more poptarts. They do bring happiness."

Thor laughed and clapped Clint on the shoulder. It stung like hell, but at least Thor seemed lighter as they headed for the kitchen.

* * *

Bruce frowned as he caught the fabric Tony tossed at him. "What is this?"

"Just try it on and see if it fits."

"Tony."

"What? Is it the purple? Betty said it was your favorite color, but then she smirked so I probably shouldn't have listened to her." Tony touched a control on his screen. "Seriously, Bruce. Try it."

Bruce grumbled as he changed into the purple pants. "Well?"

Tony grinned and turned a screen more towards Bruce. "See? It should stretch and shrink with your changes. And it'll keep you warm. Right, you're warm enough right now?"

He looked down at his bare knees. He was warmer than he would have expected. "Still purple."

Tony laughed. "Purple looks good with green." With a wink, Tony slapped him on the shoulder. "It isn't like you need to be manlier while you are green."

Bruce huffed. He pulled on the lower hem of one leg and smiled as it stretched. He let it go and it returned to being snug to his leg. "Can it handle fighting?"

"Not really sure." Tony shrugged. "We'll keep carrying spare clothes. I designed them to wear all day, under normal clothes, so if it starts to itch or bunch wrong...Well, I'll just send you the file and you can make adjustments."

"Tony."

Tony looked up from his screen. Bruce caught him up into a hug. Tony sucked in a breath and stood still.

"Thank you, Tony."

"Oh." Tony blinked and brought up a hand to pat Bruce on the back. "You...you're welcome."

* * *

Thor picked up Hanna as she held her arms up for him to do so. "Will you tell me the story of Lady Hanna?"

She pushed the ball that bounces against his chest. "I said I would." She cocked her head. "Unless you just said that so you could talk until I had gone to sleep?"

He smiled. "I wish to hear your story." He carried her to the couch in the room that held the growing chicks. He sat them down. "I am ready to listen."

She giggled, scooted to the edge of the couch, and bounced her ball. "I was smart. That's why I thought they picked me. I could figure things out real fast." She looked up at him.

Thor nodded and tucked her hair behind her ear.

She blinked and continued her story.

* * *

Bruce looked down as Francis tugged on his elbow. "Hey, you okay?"

Francis put his bouncy ball up on the table and rolled it around between his hands. "I'm...okay. I just..." He abandoned his ball and buried his head in Bruce's side. "Please don't make me go back because I upset you."

"Oh." Bruce twisted and pulled Francis up into his lap. "Oh, Francis." He gathered the boy to his chest. "I'm not making you go back. Ever." He grabbed up the bouncy ball and headed for the chicks' room.

He only paused for a moment when Bruce saw Thor soothing a sobbing Hanna. He sat down next to Hanna's feet. "Trade with me?"

Thor took Francis from him and Bruce turned Hanna around so she was crying into his thigh. Natasha appeared and frowned at them both before producing a brush she handed to him and a comb she gave to Thor.

Bruce gently brushed the hair back off Hanna's face. Out of the corner of his eye he watched Thor carefully combing Francis' hair. Hanna tucked her bouncy ball tighter to her chest.

"I really wish Clint had hooked you two on a plush toy instead." Bruce made another pass with the brush.

Natasha glowered at him. "Her holding a teddy bear would just make you want to cry harder."

Tony appeared. "JARVIS says Hanna's temperature is raising."

Bruce felt her forehead even though he knew it wasn't a good way to tell if she had a fever. Tony knelt down in front of them.

"Hey, kiddo." He touched Hanna's chin. "I'm going to stick this in your ear for a second. It'll beep. Okay?"

Hanna whimpered and nodded before turning to put her face against Bruce's leg.

Tony was gentle and quick. He frowned at the reading. "Crap." Natasha snatched the thermometer from him. Tony smiled at Hanna. "It'll be fine. You'll be okay."

Bruce kicked him lightly to keep him from starting to babble. "We should put them to bed."

Francis thrashed and grabbed at Thor. "No! I don't want to be left alone."

Hanna's hand tightened in his pants. "Stay with you."

Bruce rubbed her back. "I just thought you'd be more comfortable in your bed is all, Hanna."

She scratched at her ribs. "Not alone?"

Natasha disappeared.

Tony patted both of the children's ankles. "No, kiddo, not alone." He looked at Bruce "We could just bed them down in the movie room."

Bruce nodded. Keeping an adult with them would be easier if they were in one place. "Any idea what it is and if we're going to get it too?"

Tony shrugged. "Not yet." He picked up Hanna.

Bruce grabbed up Francis' bouncy ball and helped disentangle Francis from Thor enough that Thor could stand. They moved the children into the other room.

* * *

Clint watched Coulson stretch. "You hurt yourself sparing with Nat?"

"No." Coulson winced as he put weight on his arms to move into the plank position.

"Want to rephrase that, sir?"

"No." Coulson flopped over onto his side and looked over his shoulder at Clint. "Be quiet."

Clint covered his mouth and laughed a little more. "Sorry."

"Uh huh." Coulson sat up and rubbed at his chest. "Damn it."

Clint moved in and pressed the heel of his hand to Coulson's back. "Here." He worked on the scar where the normal skin hit scar tissue. "Feels pretty even."

"The medics did some emergency stitches before they declared me dead."

"Ah. No wonder." Clint looked up as Nat came into the room. She bowled him over and sat on him. Clint was moderately used to this sort of thing from her. "Yes?"

"What happened when you would get sick?"

Clint flinched. Then he tensed. "They are starting to feel bad? That's fast."

She punched him in the pectoral muscle. "Do not avoid the question."

"Okay, sorry." He looked at Coulson watching him. "I was left alone to get better."

She backed off. "No one watched you."

He sat up and shrugged. "Why would they? I'd either get better or die."

Coulson made a sound of rage and stomped off.

Clint blinked. "What did I say wrong?"

Natasha ran her fingers through his hair. "Nothing. Come on."

He followed her to the movie room. They'd gotten the kids laid down and _The Lion King_ was playing softly. He touched each of them in turn. Hanna was hotter. She whimpered and flopped her arm out of the blanket. He ignored Nat whispering to each of the adults in turn and climbed in between the kids.

* * *

Coulson pulled up the location files and started mapping them out. JARVIS gave him helpful information on which ones appeared to be shut down. That started, Phil filled out all the forms to countersue the Centre through the Council's internal systems. Then he filled out more forms to secure children's benefits through SHIELD.

"Francis wants you."

He looked up at Natasha standing in the doorway. "Me?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Yes, you."

"Uh." Phil digitally signed his name to another form. "Okay, I'll be right there."

"Good."

He glanced up as he shut off the screen, but she'd already disappeared. Phil stopped in the kitchen for two of the fruit juice popsicles in the plastic tubes. He cut off the top ends and took them with him to the movie room, where he figured everyone would have gathered.

He handed Bruce one of the tubes for Hanna and then sat down next to a miserable looking Francis. "Here you go." Francis blinked at the popsicle like he'd never seen one. Which, Phil realized he probably never had. He nudged the bottom to get the ice up out of the tube. "You suck on the ice."

"Oh." Francis took it from him and tried it. "Oh, neat."

Hanna made a hand motion that Phil recognized as 'thank you' in ASL.

"You are welcome, Hanna." Phil held still as Francis wiggled around until his head was against Phil's hip. He managed not to flinch as Stark suddenly stuck a cold thermometer into his ear. "Stark, I can still tase you."

Tony smiled, checked the screen, and then ran an alcohol swab over the tip. "We're all exposed, so might as well get used to it."

"Hmm." Phil couldn't really argue with that. He watched Francis slip his hand into Clint's limp one. "When did he fall asleep?"

Natasha handed him another popsicle. He didn't comment that it looked like she'd opened it with a knife.

"About the time his head hit a pillow." Bruce smiled shyly as he took a popsicle from Nat. "He slept in my lab for a couple of hours this morning."

Tony took a popsicle with a leer. Natasha stomped on his foot and then grinned when he yelped. "Dum-E tried to lift a blanket into the air duct this afternoon, so I'm going to assume that wasn't Agent Romanoff."

Natasha flipped him off from where she's settled next to Thor, who was eyeing his popsicle like it would attack at any moment.

Bruce chewed a bit of ice. "As long as he is sleeping."

They all nodded at that.

* * *

Betty hefted Hanna as she cried pitifully. "She's not getting hotter?"

Bruce carried Francis into the huge bathroom. "No, neither of them are, but she's starting to scratch at her ribs more."

"Maybe chicken pox, then?" Betty eased Hanna down onto the edge of the tub. "Why are we the ones doing this?"

"Uhm." Bruce sat Francis down and helped hold Hanna while Betty worked off her clothing. "It might be because they don't want me at the hearing about the Centre and SHIELD suing each other over the children."

"Oh. That makes sense." She lifted Hanna into the water. "Honey, I need you to put your head on the edge of the tub. Just for a minute."

Francis fought them, so Bruce finally just put him in the tub clothing and all.

"Oh." Francis' eyes came open. "Sorry."

Bruce touched his sweaty hair. "Its okay, Francis."

Hanna rolled on her side and Betty held her head up out of the water. "You are good. I like you." She patted Bruce's forearm. "You need more hugs."

Betty looked at Bruce. He gave her a wan smile. Then he put his hand on top of Hanna's. "Thank you for that, Hanna. Stop pretending me now, okay?"

She whimpered and closed her eyes. "Can't."

"Okay. Don't worry about it."

They got them washed, dried off, and put into clean clothing. Hanna clung to him. Betty managed to pry her away long enough for Bruce to get his phone out of his pocket to text Tony.

* * *

Tony reined himself in during the meeting in a way he wouldn't have if it had been a Board of Directors meeting. He was quiet about his hacking, making sure not to let anyone know what he was doing. Steve was giving him little looks every once in awhile, but Tony ignored that as much as he could.

Coulson was laying out another point of the Charter, whatever that was, and how it sided with the Avengers on the person status of the children.

Tony got a text so he opened it. It was from Bruce saying he knew why pretenders were left alone while they were sick. Tony thought about it. He glanced at Clint who looked ready to fall over. Tony texted back that it could be worse, Tony could be with the kids instead of Bruce.

The hack into the Council's network completed and he sent pictures of the ones arguing non-person status for the children to the rest of the Avengers. Then he stood up.

Everyone went quiet slowly.

He drew his mouth to one side as he cocked his head. "I'm done playing nice guy." He hit the button to virus smash the Council right down into the Triumvirate. "You are responsible for the people that made those _children_ suffer _my_ kidnapping. That is plenty enough reason for me to kill you all. Luckily for you, Captain America leads the Avengers. So." He smiled. "We're just going to dismantle your organization instead." He hit the activate button for his second virus and watched smugly as all the screens blanked out.

"Tony." Steve didn't sound all that mad at him.

"Cap." He turned and looked at Fury. "We're busy. Don't call us unless it is the end of the world."

Fury smiled.

Tony took that for a nod of approval, not that he needed one. He gathered up his teammates and grabbed Coulson by the arm to make sure he came along. The rest of the helicarrier still fled from the man, which suited Tony's mood just fine.

When he got a text telling him he wasn't funny and when were they getting back, Tony was able to answer without breaking his phone. He looked over the rest of them. Clint was sleep on Coulson's shoulder. Steve was silent in the co-pilot seat while Natasha piloted. Thor was leaning back against the wall of the quinjet with that look he got when he wasn't the one doing the flying.

Tony nodded at Clint. "When he gets sick what does he normally do?"

Coulson raised an eyebrow at him. "He retreats into one of his nests."

"Basically he hides alone until it is over?"

"Yes." Coulson glanced down at Clint's head. "The one time I pried him out of his nest he was delirious for two days."

"You think he was delirious or unable to keep from pretending?"

Coulson blinked and looked thoughtful.

* * *

Bruce handed Tony a clingy Hanna the instant he got into the room. "How did it go?"

Tony frowned as Hanna started mumbling equations under her breathe. "Fine."

Natasha pushed Hanna's hair back from her face. "If 'fine' is Stark hacking a supposedly unhackable network and acquiring video of members of the Council and then texting stills of them to the rest of us? Yes, it went fine."

Tony stuck his tongue out at her as she went to check Francis, who was weighing down Betty. He smiled as Bruce. "I think I impressed them."

"If by 'impressed' you mean monumentally pissed off, yes, you did." Coulson eased Clint down into the nest of blankets by Bruce. Clint grunted and shivered.

Steve spread a blanket across Clint. "Have we figured out what they have yet? It looks like measles." Everyone turned their heads towards Steve. He looked at them and ducked his head. "Sorry."

"No." Tony checked the various test results that were ready. All negative. "Another hour before we know for sure. You think it is measles?"

Steve shrugged. "Looks like it so far. They don't have the rash yet, but that's just a matter of time." He pointed to Hanna. "She's scratching her ribs, not her belly." He touched Francis' jaw. "They aren't swelling up, so it isn't mumps."

Tony didn't question it. He wasn't the one from a time before vaccines. "Is that good or bad?"

"What?" Steve looked at him. "You never had measles?"

"Oh." Right, before vaccines. Tony pulled up a wiki for vaccines. "In the sixties they started vaccinating for it." He handed the tablet to Steve.

"Oh, wow." Steve paged through the wiki. "No more smallpox? That's swell." He paused and looked up at them. "Wait. Why would they infect them with measles? It normally doesn't kill the child."

Tony took the tablet back and started hunting through the files he'd gotten to try to see why. The rest of the team, the awake ones at least, started arguing over his head.


	15. Never ask a Pretender to do Evil

Steve woke up with a start. He blinked and rubbed his eyes as he sat up. He extracted himself from the pile that the team had become around the kids as they slept. He tugged the blanket away from Hanna's back and hitched up her shirt. He frowned at the rash. It was bigger and already more developed than he'd have expected.

Hanna whimpered and rolled over. She held her arms up at him. Steve hushed her as he picked her up. She was hot, but not hotter than he thought she'd been before. He tucked her against his side and padded into the kitchen.

"Ice thing."

He nodded. "Yeah, you can have another ice thing. Just a second." He hunted down the box of ice things, ah, ice pops, it said and he pulled out the grape color. It reminded him of Grapette. The modern version of grape soda didn't have the same kick. He frowned at the end of the tube where it was fused shut. "No wonder Natasha opened it with a knife."

He turned and started to look for the kitchen shears. Thor appeared in the doorway looking like he was only half-awake. Steve grimaced and hitched Hanna up to sit on the edge of the counter. "Did we wake you?"

Thor shook his head and pulled open a drawer. He fished in it and came up with scissors. "You did not." He lifted the edge of Hanna's shirt as Steve fussed with the ice pop. "This is progressing faster than expected?"

"Yes, faster than I remember." Steve gave the newly opened ice pop to Hanna who sleepily sucked on the ice. "She's not as bad off as I remember people having gotten."

Thor cocked his head. "As you once did."

Steve blinked. "Yeah." He let Hanna lean so her forehead was against his chest as she ate. "Before all this..." He waved down his body. "I was frail."

"In body only." Thor pulled another ice pop from the freezer. "In mind you are strong and hail."

"Uhm."

Coulson appeared carrying Francis. "He means you were always smart." Coulson sat Francis next to Hanna and Steve found himself propping up both children in nothing flat. "Thanks, Thor."

Thor saluted him with his ice pop. Coulson made himself a cup of coffee and then another he handed to Steve. Coulson glanced at Thor, who nodded. Another cup was made and sat in next to Thor.

Coulson pushed himself up onto the end of the table and wrapped his hands around his cup as he kicked his feet a little. "Francis has a rash now."

"So does Hanna." Steve wrapped an arm loosely around the kids as they rested against him. "This isn't right for all of the forms of measles I know."

Coulson nodded.

* * *

Tony groaned as JARVIS said his name again in that one tone that meant 'you told me to tell you now wake up so I can'. "Bruce."

Bruce grunted and rolled onto his side. "What?"

"JARVIS is talking virus results. Deal with him."

"Tony...Before sunrise, JARVIS is your AI."

Tony listened to Bruce flop over onto his stomach before he smiled. "Tell me again, JARVIS. I wasn't listening before."

"That was painfully obvious, sir. The test results are complete." There was a beep and Tony's tablet came to life.

He angled it so it didn't blind him and started to read. "Uh. I've seen this before." He waved his hand before JARVIS could protest. "No, no. Something like this. This, but not this." Tony struggled to sit up and flapped his hand at Natasha frowning at him. He looked around, but Clint was out cold and the kids weren't in the room. "Huh."

Tony worked his way out of the body sucking pile of pillows and stumbled into the kitchen. He raised his eyebrows at Coulson swinging his legs like a child and handed the man the tablet as Tony went passed on his way to coffee.

He drank a cup down and then another half cup before he snatched the tablet back from an amused Coulson.

He looked the results over again. "I know I've seen this." He tapped a control and pulled up the index of Centre footage. He scrolled through until he found the tag for virologist. He opened that and sorted through the files until he found the one he thought he wanted. He opened it up.

In the footage Clint was handing a vial to the man that consistently oversaw him.

"This is the perfected carrier virus."

And there it was projected over Clint's shoulder. Tony froze frame and split the screen to show him the two viruses side-by-side. It looked the same overall, but there was more on the one in the video than the one JARVIS had reported on.

Tony rubbed his face. He walked back into the other room and poked Clint until he groaned as he roused up.

"I need you to look at this and tell me what the difference is."

Clint glared at him. "Tired."

"Don't care." Tony shoved his shoulder under Clint's arm, got him upright, and stirred him into the kitchen. Steve was still propping up the children. Coulson and Thor had moved to chairs. "Here, sit."

Clint slumped down beside Coulson and covered his eyes with his hand. "It is fucking bright in here, Stark."

It wasn't bright at all. Tony handed Steve a kitchen towel to shade the kids with in case they just weren't saying anything because they were eating popsicles. He threw another towel to Coulson, who spread it over Clint's head. Tony slid a cup of coffee across the table as he sat down.

"Here. Tell me how important the difference in these."

Clint squinted at the tablet and then his eyes widened. He leaned forward. Clint brought his hand up to cover his mouth and he started to laugh.

Tony exchanged looks with Steve and then with Coulson. Thor shifted in his seat so he was closer to Clint.

"Shield Brother, how is this funny?"

Clint shook his head and grinned as he pushed the tablet back across to Tony. "The idiots." He tapped the screen and pulled up the report. "They wanted something that would carry Ebola, but wouldn't be detected as that." He closed his eyes and leaned forward on his elbows. "They never checked it. I'm telling you: idiots."

"Why?"

Clint smiled with his eyes closed. "I didn't do it. I told them I did and I gave them a vial of virus." He sipped his coffee. "I tricked them."

Coulson eased Clint over until he was leaning against Coulson. "Tricked them how, Barton?"

Clint smiled. "I shorted the life of the carrier virus. Faster to come up, less severe, faster to die. And I didn't splice in anything. I just made it look like I had." He laughed again. "Measles that lasts about two days. Not the apocalypse they were looking for."

* * *

It was midmorning as, Tony leaned against the kitchen counter and watched Bruce make himself a cup of coffee. "They were going to infect most of the third world with Ebola. The fuckers thought they'd just sweep in with a cure that they beat out of Clint."

Bruce gulped down his cup and then got himself water. "I take we all aren't going to die, though."

"Nope." Tony glanced at the toaster as the poptarts popped up. "You'd think the corporations would learn from watching zombie movies, but noooo."

Steve raised an eyebrow from where he'd moved to the table. "Is this like _White Zombie_?"

Bruce turned his head towards Steve. "Like what?"

Tony shook his head. "Not really." He looked at Bruce. "He's talking about a Bela Lugosi film."

"Oh." Bruce accepted a poptart from Thor. "So, we're sure what the kids have is this sudden onset form that Clint made?"

"Our shield brother showed the Helpful Voice, JARVIS, the identifying marks to look for."

Tony filled his coffee cup again. "Yep." Tony's tablet beeped and he checked the virus that was moving all the Centre allocated funds into shell companies for distribution to the children and the Avengers' charities for rebuilding impromptu to battlefields. "And it looks like only seven of the children in the hospital even became sick. Hanna's batting the canister out of the air duct saved most of the ones behind her from exposure."

Steve muttered he was going to feed the chicks and he wandered out of the kitchen.

Thor put more poptarts into the toaster. "They will also recover?"

"Looks like it." Tony checked the reports. "Hanna's rash is starting to fade."

Natasha appeared and took his coffee away from him. "Which is a sign you've been awake too long." She took Thor by the elbow. "You will lead by example and you will go collect Steve from feeding the chicks, taking Stark along because he needs to work on building up the amount of time he spends with the chicks." She smiled at Tony as she pushed Thor into him.

"Hey." Tony stepped back. "This is an assault on my person, Agent Romanoff."

She smiled. "And once you've collected Cap you will all go to sleep." She made shooing motions at Thor, who nodded seriously. "If you are not all asleep in fifteen minutes I will render each of you unconscious." She smiled sweetly as Tony started to open his mouth. "And draw on you with Sharpies while you are out."

Tony snapped his mouth shut. He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "Uh, how about we, Thor and me, go get Cap and we'll go lay down with the sick people."

Bruce waited until the door shut before he laughed. "You terrify him."

She glanced at him and then at the door. "No, not really. Stark just knows I would do what I said. And he doesn't want a Sharpie penis across his cheek."

Bruce almost spit out his coffee.

She slid into a chair across from him. "Could you tell if Barton is right?"

"I looked it all over when Tony kicked me awake earlier." He made a gesture at the tablet between them. "The Centre didn't check Clint's work? That seemed odd to me."

"I found that odd as well." Natasha wrinkled her nose. "They did check it. Every pretender that ran the simulation agreed with Clint." She shrugged. "The ones that actually did it. Several just wouldn't run the sim at all."

Bruce sighed. "Tony is gleefully ripping apart the electronic lives of a number of people today."

"Well, deserved." She tapped the screen of the tablet. "Want to help me map fertility clinics to burn down?"

He smiled. "It would be a pleasure."


	16. Rhodey Says Hi

Pepper was used to waking up to havoc caused by Tony. In the weeks following the Avengers' first battle she'd enjoyed the near peace of Tony-less news cycles. She flipped the channel and frowned. The chaos of the morning stock markets was spreading to the pundits and it was getting ugly fast.

She flipped open her phone and dialed. "Rhodey?"

"Hey. What did Tony do this time?"

She turned from the TV and started looking for her most comfortable heels that she could stomp in. "I don't know that he did."

"Five high power individuals have disappeared from their homes overnight and the stock market is doing insane things this morning. Sure, Tony didn't do a thing."

She rolled her eyes. "Could you talk to him? If I'm going to have to field a media nightmare this afternoon I want a little heads up. He's still in Stark Tower."

"Alright." Rhodey sounded resigned.

"Oh, and don't be surprised by the baby chicks."

"The what?"

She ended the call with a smile.

* * *

Tony looked down at Hanna holding her arms up with her bouncy ball in one hand. "And what exactly is wrong with your legs?"

She wiggled the fingers of her free hand. "This is the pick up posture. You are supposed to lift me up and put me on your hip."

He leaned over. "I know what it is. Why should I?"

"Oh." She frowned. "Bruce said you might not know what I meant, but he didn't say you'd be stubborn about it."

Tony eyed her. "Stubborn? I'm not the one not answering questions posed to her." He lifted Hanna up and put her on his hip. "Don't bounce the ball at anything. We don't want to explode this morning."

"Okay."

"Feeling better, then?" Tony hitched her into the proper spot on his hip so she could cling and he could have both hands free.

She hummed and tucked her bouncy ball into her shirt before clinging to him. "I'm tired."

"I noticed, since you can't seem to walk for yourself." Tony flicked his hologram of his next armor up in front of himself and started to tinker. "Itching?"

"Hmm." Hanna yawned. "Not much now."

"Uh huh." Tony swayed a little as he started to rearrange his munitions so he could fit in a compartment for an extra pair of pants for Bruce. He tucked one arm under Hanna's butt as she fell asleep so he wouldn't have to stop to put her on the couch.

He heard his door open, but he was at a fiddly part with only the one hand free so he didn't turn around. "Go away, Steve. We'll come to lunch when I'm done with this."

"Tony, tell me you didn't _spawn_."

Tony turned his head and glared at Rhodey for a moment before flicking all the holos away. "No. I wouldn't inflict my genes on anyone, thanks for that."

"I didn't..."

Tony waved at him and talked over anything Rhodey had been about to say. "What are you doing here? I thought you'd decided that you were too busy testing _my_ armor, that you stole, to come met my teammates."

"Let's not start that argument again, Tony." Rhodey jumped slightly as Francis dropped from the ceiling.

"Tony!" Francis giggled as Clint slipped out of the vent behind him. "I got to see Clint's nest."

"Which one?" Tony braced so Francis' slam into his leg hit the side Hanna wasn't on.

Francis peeked around Tony to look at Clint. "There's more than one?"

Clint smiled and lifted Hanna from Tony. "When I can have them, yes." He eyed Rhodey. "Sir." He gathered up Francis. "Come on, Francis. Tony has to be not listened to by his supposed friend and he doesn't need us to see that."

Rhodey started to protest, but didn't get the chance as Francis patted Tony's knee before following Clint and they swept from the room. He shifted to see Tony fidgeting with a blowtorch. "What was that?"

Tony's near smile dropped from his face and he shrugged. "Agent Barton and his kids."

With a slow blink, Rhodey sat down. "No, I meant what Barton said."

Tony lifted his chin slightly. "I didn't say anything." He cocked his head. "Guilty conscience?"

"What? No." Rhodey narrowed his eyes. "Tony."

With a huff, Tony headed for his door. "Come on. Lunch." Tony waited until Rhodey had followed him out of the workshop to tap the controls and change the protocol so Rhodey would be announced next time.

"Pepper is worried that you have something to do with the meltdown in the financial world this morning."

Tony thumbed the button for the elevator. "So she sent you to interrogate me about it." He tapped his arc reactor as they stepped into the elevator.

"She's just worried you've done something we can't fix this time." Rhodey frowned. "You did, didn't you?"

With a shrug, Tony lead them out of the elevator towards the kitchen the team ate lunch in. "Does it matter?"

They entered the kitchen and Rhodey had a momentary feeling of terror as the rest of the Avengers and those two kids all stared at him. Then he squared his shoulders and caught up with Tony, who was getting coffee.

"Yeah, Tony, it matters."

Tony took his coffee to the table and sat down next to Bruce. "I have a perfectly good reason for trashing everyone connected to the Centre."

"Really?" Rhodey leaned over the table. "Tony, you can't just dictate things like that..."

"Excuse me, sir."

Tony leaned back in his chair as Steve seemed to get bigger without even moving.

Rhodey blinked and straightened up.

Steve crossed his arms. "I'm sorry. We haven't met. I'm Captain America."

Tony blinked. Steve never introduced himself like that. Tony opened his mouth to say something, but didn't have the chance as Thor grabbed Rhodey's arm.

"We will have speech, friend of Anthony." Thor effortlessly pulled Rhodey out of the room with him.

Everyone turned from watching that to look at Tony. He shrugged. "He's always like that. You get used to it."

Francis bounced his bouncy ball. "Does he ever actually listen to you?"

Tony thought about it as he ate his chili. "Sure he does." Hanna rolled her ball to him and Tony rolled it back. "He puts up with a lot from me."

* * *

Thor finally released Rhodey once they were standing next to the baby chicks. "Anthony does not speak of you."

"Uh..."

"I am certain you are as brothers given the manner in which you speak to him." Thor crossed his arms. "You should not loom over him."

"I think I've known Tony long enough..."

Thor shook his head. "You do not use your knowledge properly."

"What?"

"His spirit is wounded." Thor glared at him. "I have seen little of you in helping him heal that wound."

"You can't..." Rhodey looked down at the chicks. "Tony is an asshole most of the time. And he never listens to anyone..."

Thor raised his eyebrows. "He allows you to touch him with impunity. Do you not see the honor he bestows upon you?"

Rhodey stood blinking as Thor left the room.

* * *

Coulson eased Hanna down his leg to stand on the floor. "You don't have to do this now."

She stared at the roof access door like it was going to come to life and attack them. "No time like now." She glanced up at him. "Right?"

Phil sighed and opened the door about two inches. Hanna stood and panted. Behind her Francis was crowding the wall.

Behind them, Steve looked like he was worrying. "Why don't we just prop the door open and sit in here for a while?"

Francis nodded as he gripped Hanna's arm. "I like the sound of that."

Hanna patted his hand. "That's just because you are scared of heights."

Steve eased his way down the wall to sit on the floor as Phil propped open the door and the wind swept in around the corner. "Scared of heights?" Steve looked at him and Phil shrugged.

Francis wedged himself between Steve and Hanna. Phil settled with his legs stretched across the doorway.

"More of falling." Francis mimed a swan dive with one hand. "Falling off something is worse the higher it is up."

Hanna edged closer to Phil's leg. "It would give you more time to get on the Iron Man armor though."

Steve smiled. "We should get you more crayons so you can draw Iron Man."

She beamed at them. "I shoved the crayon named cornflower up the nose of one of the invaders."

Phil smiled at her. "You did really good that night, Hanna."

* * *

Natasha glanced up as Tony looked over her map. "What, Stark?"

He sat down, which was ever an indication of anything good. "You've seen me with Rhodey before, right?"

She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Right." He looked confused before his face went towards neutral and settled into sort of sad. "Did I miss something? The kids didn't seem to like him and I thought they'd get along, you know, like a house on fire."

Natasha tilted her head. "You do realize the children read body language like you read math equations, don't you?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"You guard yourself with Rhodey in a way that can be worrying." She held up a hand before he could start to protest. "I'm not saying you aren't friends, Stark. You wouldn't have left him with functioning armor if you didn't consider him a friend." She leaned forward a little. "You worry you are going to disappoint him while he is around you."

Tony blinked. "I..." He stopped and frowned. "Huh. Steve seemed upset about it."

"Steve recognized it because you do it worse with him when you aren't in the middle of being an ass." Natasha pointed at the map in front of her. "Think we could hit all of these in one night?"

He looked it over. "Trying to get them while they are closed?"

"We aren't out to kill people in this. Just deny them the supplies and records stored in these places."

Tony nodded. "Then no." He pointed at the Rockies. "There would be storm fronts through here that will slow us down too much."

She nodded thoughtfully.

* * *

Steve flopped down on his bed with a sigh. He felt a little bad about interrupting Tony's friend in at lunch, but the man had Tony hunching his shoulders. It had been worse than when Steve had pushed Tony's buttons on the helicarrier.

He wished he had Howard to shake for letting Tony grow up without more friends. He knew the desperation of an only child trying to please their only and best friend. "JARVIS, you don't happen to have any video of Howard do you?"

"Where do you like them shown, Captain?"

Steve froze for a bare moment. He hadn't meant to ask for something that would bother Tony the next time he paid attention to JARVIS' report of Steve's requests. Well, it was too late to worry about it now. "Uhm. The wall would be fine."

The wall screen came on and Steve settled in to watch.


	17. Howard's Creation

Steve just stared. Howard looked defeated. So very tired. And so much older. It looked like JARVIS was showing him in backwards order or something. "JARVIS, is there anything earlier?"

"Yes, Captain, there is."

The scene changed and then Howard, the age Steve remembered, was staring at him. "Hi, Steve."

Steve automatically waved a little.

Howard shifted like he was uncomfortable. "I...You'd be so mad at me." He sighed. "I thought we'd find you. That Dr. Erskine had been right when we discussed how the serum and the vita-rays would interact. That you'd be able to survive freezing temperatures for some time." He rubbed the side of his face. "None of the searches have found anything. Now, we have to do something drastic. Something you'd never approve of."

The scene cut and Steve frowned as in the next clip Howard looked...horrible. He was ashen and very thin.

"I don't even know why I'm making this. There's no way you'll be found alive. I just couldn't..." He closed his eyes and breathed deep. "We stopped the war. At least that's what they are saying." He looked straight into the camera. "I just helped to kill two whole cities in Japan with a new sort of bomb. The atom bomb."

Steve gasped. They told him in one of the briefings about the atom bombs, but to see the effect on Howard...to see what Howard had thought about what he'd helped to cause. It was awful.

The scene cut again and this time Howard looked tired, older, his hair starting to gray. In Howard's arms was a chubby baby.

"Hi, Steve. I thought...well, I needed to say this out loud. Only I can't let anyone hear it, so I figured I tell it to you. Since you're dead and all." Howard frowned down at the baby as he burbbled, his tiny arms waving about. "This is my son, Anthony Edward Stark. Maria, his mother, is calling him Tony. That'll stick I suppose." Howard looked back up to the camera. "He isn't my son."

Steve straightened up and leaned forward as Howard shifted the baby Tony to his other arm.

"See, I worked with radiation. Lots of it to make the a-bombs. We didn't really know what we were doing. It was all so new. I knew it might mean no children, so I used an experimental procedure to freeze some of my sperm. I thought once technology advanced we'd be able to reverse any damage to it." Howard shrugged. "Nevermind that." He bounced Tony as the baby started to wave his arms more. "He's mine, but not. We went to a fertility clinic to help us conceive."

Steve cocked his head as the screen went blank and another scene started. Howard looked drunk, and the Tony in this one was toddling across the floor in front of Howard's knees.

"Hey, Star Spangled Ste...ve." Howard slushed his glass of liquor and little Tony turned his head to look at him. "Last one of these. I promised myself." Howard patted Tony on the head clumsily. "He _is_ mine after all." Howard chuckled. "Those bastards used some of my money from starting SHEILD to make something else. They were running the fertility clinic's lab. They created him in a petri dish." Howard laughed bitterly. "My greatest creation the bastard called him. He's a fucking toddler, but give him a math equation and he can finish it." Howard leaned over and arranged some blocks next to himself. "See? Tony, here."

The small boy came closer, keeping an eye on Howard as he approached. Then he saw the equation and squealed. He grabbed up the blocks and shifted things around and then smiled up at Howard, who patted him on the head.

"Good, Tony." Howard looked back to the camera. "His math is never wrong. I'm going to teach him to look for you. He'll be the one to find you. You deserve a proper fucking burial at least." Howard toasted the screen. "Goodbye, Captain America."

Steve rubbed his eyes as the screen went dark.

"Would you like the footage from the various Expos, Captain?"

"No." Steve cleared his throat. "Not...not right now."

* * *

Pepper laughed at Rhodey as soon as the video call connected. He glared.

"What exactly do you think is so funny?"

"You look like someone ruffled your feathers."

He sighed and turned the phone so she could see behind him to the chicks in their brooder. "You had me walk right into a trap."

She dimpled as she smiled. "Did I?" She lifted her chin a little. "Tell me about it. Which one defended Tony?"

"Uhm. All of them?"

Pepper did a little bouncy, shimmy dance thing. Rhodey raised his eyebrows at her and she just smiled wider. "You have no idea how happy I am."

"You are happy because Thor told me I don't appreciate Tony enough? And Captain America glared at me. Also, where the fuck did the kids come from? They hate me."

She reigned in her smile for a few moments. "They don't hate you. They love Tony." She looked down her nose at him. "You have noticed Tony changed since he became Iron Man and quit dying from it, right?" She turned her head so she was looking at him with her left eye. "You did see him nearly die to keep a nuke from destroying New York, right?"

"Uhm." He blinked. Well, yeah, he'd noticed, but it was just Tony being weird wasn't it? He'd started doing things Rhodey didn't really understand coming from Tony. He turned his head and looked towards the kitchen. "Oh."

Pepper smiled more fondly. "There you go. He has friends, Rhodey. I'm hoping they stick around long enough to become his family. I wanted you to see it. To _feel_ the difference."

"Are you sure that's Tony?"

She laughed and hung up on him.

* * *

Hanna eased herself over the edge of Clint's nest. "You like this one best?"

Clint helped her get her feet in. "In this building, yes." He lay back and let her cuddle up to his side. "You don't mind the height?"

She shifted so she was lying mostly on top of him. "No. What do we call this?"

He blinked. "Which 'this' are you calling this?"

She put her chin on his sternum. "All the adults, Francis, and me. We're what? Is there a word for it?"

"Oh." Clint smiled. "I call it 'ohana' in my own head."

She patted his chest. "You feel better."

He curled his arm across her little back. "Thanks, Hanna. How about you ask to watch _Lilo and Stitch_ tonight? It'll show you the concept for the word."

Hanna smiled. "Can Tony complain about it? He likes to complain."

Clint snorted. "Oh, he'll complain alright."

* * *

Coulson sat down across from Bruce and watched the man work. It was quiet and soothing in a way Coulson missed sometimes.

Bruce glanced up, noticed him there, and pulled his glasses off. "Uhm, Coulson?"

"Go on with what you were doing, Doc."

"Okay." Bruce watched him for a minute and then put his glasses back on. He shifted the screen between them more to one side. "You look tired."

"Getting stabbed in the pericardial sac and brushing the phrenic nerve can do that to a person."

Bruce winced. "Through the lung too, huh?"

Phil nodded. "Yes." He rubbed at the lower edge of the forming scar. "For some reason the tip pushed aside my heart instead of piercing it."

"Have you wondered why he stabbed you instead of trying to overtake your mind?" Bruce rubbed his fingers across the bridge of his nose, pushing his glasses up as he did.

"I have." Phil looked up at the ceiling. "Loki is crazy. Smart, but crazy."

Bruce nodded. "You missed it when I said you could smell crazy on him."

Phil nearly smiled. "I would have liked to have heard that. He was in Barton's head. If there is one person Barton would think could take Loki's plan apart..."

"Uh. And you still were the one to take apart his plan." Bruce tapped a graph on his screen.

"Maybe, unless that was Loki's plan all along."

Bruce looked up again. "What do you mean?"

Phil shrugged. "Just worrying."

"I don't think Loki's plan involved being repeatedly banged against the floor by the other guy."

"Hmm." Phil pulled up JARVIS' footage of that fight. "Have you seen it? Loki whimpers there at the end."

"No, I haven't. Whimpers? Really?" Bruce flicker his graph away because it could wait. He leaned on his folded arms as the video started with Loki yelling at the Hulk. "That was just stupid of Loki."

Phil laughed. "Yes, just a bit stupid."

* * *

Natasha looked up as Rhodey came into the room. "Rhodes."

"Ma'am." He wondered closer and looked down at her map. "What is this?"

"Targets to burn." She looked up at him. "Anyone explain the Centre to you yet?"

He shook his head. "Mostly I've been getting laughed at by Pepper, and glared at by Captain America."

She cocked an eyebrow at him. "You should know that Stark considers you important enough to come to me for advice on the situation."

"Oh." He frowned. "I take it you consider that unsual..."

"I terrify him."

"Ah." Rhodes pointed at the map. "This is the United States."

She rolled her eyes. "Astute observation." She pulled up the video file of Clint pretending Stark's kidnapping. "Here, watch this."

Three video files later and Rhodes was helping her work out where to split the map for War Machine to help them.

* * *

Hanna frowned at the bowl in Thor's lap. "So you burn the corn until it turns inside out and you _eat_ it?"

Francis tried a single popped kernel. Everyone watched him as he chewed. He looked at Hanna and shrugged. "Tastes like butter."

She poked the pile of popcorn with her finger and watched as it spilled over the side of the bowl. "Hot butter. Can I have an ice thing instead?"

Steve picked her up and sat her between Clint and Tony. "Try the popcorn first. Then if you don't like it you can have an ice pop."

She sighed and accepted a piece of popcorn as the movie queued up. "Oh. I like it. More!"

Clint tapped her on the head. "More, please. Do not follow Thor for social conventions without checking with someone else first."

Francis glanced up from his spot. "We can still have ice pops, though, right?"

"Yes." Clint eased further down into the pillows with a smile.

* * *

Rhodey looked over the group. Everyone asleep except Thor, who was watching him and the door. "You don't sleep?"

Thor moved his head and one shoulder in a shrug-like motion. "I do not need as much sleep."

He looked at Tony, sprawled in the middle of a pile that consisted of the children, Barton, Banner, and Rogers. It was disconcerting to realize he couldn't remember the last time he'd seen Tony touch anyone outside of shaking hands with reporters.

"Watch over him for me?"

Thor nodded. "I will endeavour to do so." His tone said, I'm not doing it for _you_.

Rhodey slipped out of the room and went to start prepping his statement that he'd need for the cover up for attacking targets on American soil.


	18. Questions and Flight Plans

Steve approached Bruce after a lot of consideration. "Doc."

Bruce looked up from his screen and blinked. "Uh, hi." He took his glasses off. "What can I do for you, Cap?"

Steve settled onto the stool across from Bruce and ignored the screen next to his elbow that came to life with math equations. Tony's normal seat then. Or maybe the children. "Could you explain to me how nuclear radiation affects the ability to have children?"

Bruce's eyebrows drew together. "Uhm." He gestured down himself. "I wouldn't have children with the, uh, other guy problem. If that's what is worrying you."

Steve grimaced. "What? No." He shook his head. "No, no. I meant in general." He shrugged. "It was something Howard mentioned and I never got a chance to learn about it." He wasn't even lying, so his ears weren't turning red on him.

"Oh." Bruce straightened up in a way that made Steve realize just how much Bruce did to make himself appear smaller. "On males specifically?"

"Sure." Steve tried not to smile too wide as Bruce launched into a explanation with words Steve had never heard. He went into memorize everything mode and started nodding in all the right places. Steve could look up the terminology later. Even if it meant asking JARVIS for help.

* * *

Bruce watched Steve retreat from his lab. "Well, that was weird." He scratched his head for a moment. "Uh, JARVIS, do you know why Captain Rogers suddenly took interest in a topic he doesn't even know the base facts for?"

"Captain Rogers has recently watched videos made by Howard Stark."

"Huh. Okay." Bruce went back to his experiment.

Several minutes later, Bruce froze as a realization hit him. He frantically pulled up the DNA data on the whole group of children and started scanning it.

* * *

Coulson looked over the map of the fertility clinics. "Is this finalized?"

Natasha looked up from where she was inserting their flights into the databases for the various airports they'd be going in and out of during the operation. "Yes."

Phil narrowed his eyes at the Rockies. "We're trusting War Machine with that much real estate?"

She shrugged. "He's feeling guilty." She pointed at Colorado Springs. "Also, his current base is there. So, in the official statements we'll be better off if he's in the area."

Nodding, Phil tapped a clinic in the middle of South Dakota. The infographic expanded to give him layout and video captures from the nearest gas station's security cameras. "At least the suits of armor are different enough color schemes that no one will confuse the two."

Natasha frowned. "We are not going to be able to do this quietly. The Council is already screaming for our heads on a silver platter."

Phil nodded. "They were until Stark's virus started moving their funds." He backed the map up to the top level and stared at the placements around the country. "Now they are too busy saving their own asses to spare a thought towards the Avengers."

"What's he doing with the money?" Natasha finished another flight plan.

He started to answer, but then he tilted his head. "When did the clinic in Long Island become operational?"

She tapped the icon and the information known came up. Natasha frowned at Coulson's back as he hurried out of the room. She glared at the map for a while before dismissing it from her mind as she went back to inserting flight plans into databases.

* * *

Francis clung to Thor's hand as they stepped out of the roof access door. Hanna had her head buried in Thor's knee.

"We are well, young ones." Thor stopped them a few feet from the door. He eased Hanna away long enough to sit down and let the children climb into his lap. "The stars are different here than in my realm."

Hanna turned her head and peeked up at the sky. "There aren't any stars."

Thor brushed back her hair. "It isn't night yet."

"Also, the city lights drown out the stars." Clint settled down next to them. "It took me awhile to get used to looking up and not seeing a ceiling."

Francis twisted so his feet were under Clint's closer knee. "Why aren't you afraid of heights like me?"

Clint's face went tight for a second before it smoothed out. "I ened up in a circus after I escaped the Centre. The man that taught me how to shoot with a bow wasn't always nice. The only place he couldn't get was up high in the big tent. I got over heights."

Hanna tilted her face up towards the sky and took deep breaths. "There's so much of it."

Thor rubbed her tiny back. "And it is glorious."

* * *

Coulson let himself into Stark's workshop and stood near the door while the robots moved around Stark being alternatively scolded and praised.

The music wasn't too loud. Phil thought the volume was incidiative of when Stark really felt the need to keep people out. After a while, Dum-E brushed Stark's elbow until Stark turned to look.

"Oh, hey. Agent Coulson. How goes the map of doomed for destruction? We about ready with that?" Stark turned back to his soldering. "I'm ready whenever you all are. New suit and everything." He peeked at Phil from the corner of his eye. "Unless something is wrong?" He rasied his eyebrows. "Something isn't wrong, is it?"

Phil shook his head as he stepped closer and sat down on the nearest empty chair. "Nothing is wrong."

"Uh huh." Tony threw down the tool he'd been using. "That's why you look like someone took your favorite taser."

"What do you remember about your first kidnapping?"

Tony blinked, frowned, and then cocked his head. "What?" He licked his lips. "What does that have to do with anything at all?"

Phil rubbed the pad of his thumb against the side of his index finger. "SHEILD asked for the simulation on your kidnapping."

"They...Of course they did." Tony twirled the stool he was on around to fully face Phil. "What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking the typical age to be kidnapped by the Centre is three to six years old."

Tony made a rude noise. "Me? You think they were trying to get me..." He stopped, frowning. Tony rubbed his hand across his chin. "Why?"

Phil looked at him like he was stupid. "Really, Stark?"

"Wait, how did you know SHIELD asked for anything?"

"I checked." Phil crossed his arms and ignored the way it pulled on the scar on his back. He'd change his physical therapy later. "The simulation didn't give any conclusive information."

Tony half-turned towards Dum-E as he approached them. "And you think that's because the Centre didn't want to give away that they'd taken me?"

Before Phil could answer, Bruce burst into the workshop.

"Tony." Bruce looked at Phil and then at Tony. "Uhm, I'm sorry."

Phil stood up. "It is okay, Doctor Banner. We were just finishing." He inclined his head towards Tony. "I'll get back to the map."

He could feel their eyes on him as he left the workshop.

* * *

Tony turned to give Bruce the once over. "What?"

"Uh." Bruce moved closer and skirted around Dum-E. "I had a thought. I checked the children against Steve's DNA."

"What?" Tony looked at him funny as he pulled up a list of the children. On a side screen he checked the progress of the outfitting of the farm Steve had chosen. "Why?"

"Something he said made me think they could have frozen his sperm and tried to make...babies."

Tony blinked. "Shit."

Bruce waved his hands. "Nope, no. I checked. None of them match him." He made a face. "Thing is then I got to thinking. Steve asked me for information because of something he remembered your father saying." Bruce nodded to the list of children. "So I got worried and checked them against you."

"Oh, fuck." Tony rubbed his hands over his face. "Please, please, don't tell me I have spawn."

Bruce eased closer and Tony let him. "Tony..."

"Just tell me." He scrolled absently through the list. "Oh, fuck. They didn't clone me, did they? That's just what the world needs, another fucking walking disaster."

"No." Bruce wrapped his arm around Tony's shoulders. "No, Tony. You don't have spawn. Or clones."

"Oh." Tony looked down at his feet. "That's...good. Good." He took a breathe. "That's the way it should be."

"Tony, I found a DNA record for a half-sibling."

"I..." Tony made a face. "I didn't think to check past Barton, you know?"

"I know." Bruce turned Tony so they were hugging. "He isn't in the group. I just found a DNA file, but I can't find him." He tightened his hold on Tony. "I'm sorry, Tony."

Tony's arms came up and Bruce cupped the back of Tony's head as he just stood and shakily breathed.

* * *

After dinner they gathered around the map while Hanna and Francis changed the chicks' bedding.

Coulson frowned. "If we are going to find information on this possible sibling of Stark's it'll slow us down too much to get them all in one night."

Natasha pointed at the map. "We could split the map and do it in two nights."

Clint shook his head. "No. The remaining ones would destroy their records once they heard the news."

Steve glared down at the map. "Would each clinic have only the records from its own operation, or would they pool the data?"

"Oh." Bruce leaned forward. "If we can access the data from them all in one clinic we could be downloading from it while destroying the rest."

Tony flicked his fingers across the map, highlighting certain clinics. "These are less likely to be the central information hubs." He tapped the clinic in Long Island. "I say we start with this one."

Steve nodded. "Alright. Tomorrow night?" They all nodded. He looked at each of them in turn.

* * *

Tony ignored Steve until he settled beside Tony in the group. The movie's credits started to roll and Tony looked over the sleeping lumps of his teammates and the kids. He looked back to Steve. "What?"

"I know you don't like me." Steve shrugged. "I didn't exactly make a good impression on you."

Tony snorted. "I don't think either one of us did."

Steve nodded. "Okay. Uhm." He looked down at Tony and made a face. "I try not to talk about him around you."

"Thanks, I think."

With a sigh, Steve tucked the blanket covering Francis tighter around him. "Howard recorded movies for me. He kept doing it after you were born."

"I don't want to hear this, Cap." Tony looked down at where Hanna was weighing down Tony's legs.

"I know." Steve clasped his hands together. "I'm not...Howard thought he couldn't have kids. So your parents went to a fertility clinic."

Tony blinked. "Fuck." He rubbed his hand through his hair, standing more up on end. "They got me from the Centre's clinic. That's why the fuckers kidnapped me."

"You are their son, Tony." Steve sketched cube shapes in the air. "You really should have seen you. Toddling and so _happy_ to do math."

Tony extracted himself from under Hanna, who grumbled in her sleep, and made his way to the nearest wall. He slid down it and rubbed at the arc reactor in his chest. "No wonder he never liked me."

Steve sat down near Tony on the floor. "Howard didn't like himself, Tony." Steve didn't follow as Tony pushed himself upright and he fled the room.


	19. And the Clinics Burn

Natasha plugged in the drive Stark had given her to brute force the clinic's computer into giving up all its information. She checked her watch and listened to the chatter on the comms as Bruce called the fire department to report the fire they hadn't started yet.

"Seven minutes." Steve's voice sounded even, but Natasha had seen the man's shoulders when Stark had dropped out of the quinjet.

She was considering locking the two of them in a room until they actually talked. Or killed each other, whichever came first. Natasha flipped through the papers in the filing cabinet until the drive beeped.

Natasha pulled it and stuck the small explosive to the side of the computer tower. Then she high-tailed it to the next floor.

Four and a half minutes later she scrambled up into the quinjet and they rose into the sky as Coulson deftly turned them up and out of the clinic's parking lot. Natasha nodded and Clint flicked the guard open on the trigger for the explosives. He blew the clinic.

They hovered to watch it burn until fire trucks appeared in the distance.

* * *

At clinic number four they smashed it apart because it was nestled too close to other buildings to burn.

Clinic number nine was another thought to be an information hub so Natasha plugged in another prepped drive. This clinic was one of the oldest operational ones left. The filing cabinets around her were various ages. She picked the oldest looking one and rifled through it as she waited on the drive.

Below her, the others were planting explosives and cutting carefully through the support pillars. This building had to come down in a controlled explosion or they risked damage to the school next door.

She hit files marked Stark. Frowning, she pulled them all, unzipped the front of her suit, tucked them inside, and zipped back up. She went up a drawer in the filing cabinet and scanned that one.

The drive beeped and she left the cabinet to pull the drive. She placed an incendiary device on top of the file cabinet, pulled the pin, watched the spoon flip away, and left before it started to melt through the metal.

* * *

Clint offered an arm to Natasha as she leaped for the quinjet's open door. He watched as Iron Man swooped up and out of the building. Thor came from the other side and landed next to them.

"Good?"

Natasha was pulling paper files from her suit even as she nodded. "Fire in the files should be going merrily."

Clint looked to Cap, who nodded solemnly. Clint grinned a little too wide as he triggered the chain explosion that would drop the building. Coulson kept them hovering until the building was down in a cloud of dust.

The quinjet rose and Iron Man landed in the back as the doors started to close. Stark popped the face plate up.

"How we doing?"

Cap looked up from the tablet that held their map. "We're a little ahead of the schedule."

Bruce took the files from Natasha and started to look through them. "How long until the next one?"

Coulson turned his head. "With the tailwind, about 35 minutes."

With a nod, Bruce buried himself in the files Nat had gotten.

Clint forced himself not to clench his hand as Nat sat down next to him. "You okay?"

She held out the little thumb drive to Stark as she nodded. "You?"

He shrugged and watched Stark plug the drive into a device. "I liked the flames we got on the Kentucky clinic."

"They were nice." Natasha watched him carefully.

Clint leaned back in his seat and tried to look like he was going to sleep. He listened as Nat huffed, before shifting enough she was using him for a pillow. He mentally sighed, but let her since she was letting him not talk about it all.

"Shit."

Clint jerked upright as Nat reached for her guns. They were all staring at Bruce who was looking at one of the files in his lap. Then he looked up and grimaced.

"Oh, ah, sorry." He pushed his glasses further up on his nose. "That half-sibling we couldn't find a record for beyond the DNA report? Well, I found him." Bruce leaned over and handed the file to Stark.

Clint winced as Tony read the file. He could tell it was bad.

"He was older than me." Tony flipped a page. "They never said they'd lost a baby." He read some more and then snapped the file closed. "Uh."

Steve gently lifted the file from Tony's hands and retreated into the cockpit with Coulson. Nat pulled on Tony's gauntlet.

"Lay down, Stark."

Tony just blinked and Thor finally pulled the man down until he was laying out on the floor with his head on Thor's thigh.

Nat curled up next to him and rested one of her feet on top of Clint's boot. "Sleep."

Clint obediently closed his eyes and listened to everyone breathe. It was a good sound.

* * *

Coulson closed the cockpit door with a punch of a button as Steve opened the file he'd brought forward with him. "How bad is it?"

"I don't know what people call this now."

"What do you call it?" Phil matched them up to the prearranged flight plan and watched their velocity carefully.

"Blue baby." Steve looked up from the file. "It says here Maria Stark miscarried before this baby. And this one lived a few hours."

Phil nodded. "Rh factors. It is rarer now for the baby to die." He trimmed their vector. "The mother can get shots now that keep her from producing antibodies against the baby."

"Really? Swell." Steve closed the file. "I had hoped we'd find him alive. Tony deserved a sibling."

"There was no guarantee."

Steve stared out the windshield. "I know."

Phil glanced at him. "Maybe you could wear him down until he decides to be friends."

With a snort, Steve leaned his head back against the headrest. "I think I'm lucky Tony lets me stay in the tower."

There wasn't much he could argue about that one. Phil checked War Machine's location, which was right where it should be. He checked their position. "Ten minutes out."

Steve stood up. "I'll wake the others."

* * *

Bruce grimaced as Tony dropped out of the quinjet before his thrusters fired and he swooped up, turning to fly by the clinic and check it for people.

Thor went out and up to get them cloud cover.

Natasha dropped out to land lightly in the dirt as soon as Tony reported they were clear. Steve shifted next to Bruce.

"You okay, Doc?"

Bruce nodded. "I wish I'd kept quiet."

Steve shrugged as he pulled the coul into place. "He'd have felt bad whenever he was told about it. Nothing you could do about that, Doc."

"Still." Bruce watched as Tony pulled the junction box open and started pulling breakers.

"Hey! Flip that one back on!"

"Ooops." Stark flipped a couple back into the on position. "Didn't think you were going to pull more information."

Natasha voice sounded snippy. "Stick to the plan, _mudak_."

"What did you just call me? My AI seems to think it wasn't ladylike."

"Focus, people." Captain America dropped out of the quinjet to land next to Iron Man. "Go start on the foundation. I can do this."

Iron Man's glowing eyes stared at him for a second before he turned and flew off.

Bruce moved to the cockpit. "We ready for me to call it in, yet?"

Coulson punched a button. "Fifteen more seconds."

Then there was considerable cussing over the comms in Russian. Bruce turned in time to see Clint rush to the back of the quinjet. He followed and they both looked out the open hatch to the placid clinic beneath them.

Captain America was looking up at them from the junction box. "Report, Black Widow."

"I'm seconds until Thor can go." She sounded pissed.

Bruce and Clint exchanged looks. Then he hurried back to the cockpit to make the emergency call.

* * *

With her bare hands, oh yes. She was going to strangle every one of the doctors that thought they could just play with people's lives. With her bare hands. She was going to track them all down to their hidey holes and kill them. Mercy was too good for them, the utter bastards. Natasha sped down the hallway with another file tucked in her suit against the skin of her belly. This one she wasn't letting anyone see until they were done.

She passed Iron Man melting holes in the foundation and was joined by Captain America on the dirt of the parking lot as the quinjet maneuvered around to come lower. She didn't wait for it to land completely before leaping up into the open hatch.

Natasha ignored the concerned looks and the silent exchanges as she stomped forward into the cockpit and slammed the door closed between the compartments. She flopped in the co-pilot's chair as Coulson turned them to see Thor's lightning strike hit the clinic. Iron Man hovered to the quinjet's two o'clock.

"Get inside, Iron Man."

Stark hovered for a moment before kicking in his thrusters. "I'll met you at the next stop."

Coulson sighed as the suit disappeared out of sight. "Want to tell me what that was about?"

"Do you think every genius in the country is the product of the Centre?"

Phil turned his raised eyebrow, deadpan, tell me now face on her.

Natasha pulled the offending file from her suit and locked in a side compartment. "After the operation."

Another sigh, and Coulson handed the flying off to her. "I'm going to take a nap."

She nodded and forced herself not to wrench them upwards as Thor's weight settled onto the quinjet. "Get Thor to come inside. Quinjet surfing is not acceptable."

He almost smirked at her before shutting the cockpit door behind himself.

Natasha checked they were matching their cover flight plan and sheathed as she flew.

* * *

Tony knew that he shouldn't care about a baby long dead, but he kept having to flip the face plate up between stops and wipe at his face. It sucked. Bruce handed him a cloth and Tony blew his nose. "This wasn't as fun as I thought it'd be."

"Sorry." Bruce was hunched over in a way he hadn't been in a while.

"Don't be." Tony frowned at the closed cockpit door and Coulson hovering near it. "She must have found something."

Bruce nodded. "Didn't sound good."

"Nope." Tony thought about checking their progress, but he really didn't feel like it. "Where are we?"

"Three more to go." Bruce looked at his watch-slash-heartbeat monitor. "Betty said to call her when we started in on the West coast."

"Uhm." Tony rubbed his forehead where he was getting a damn headache. "Remind me to get her a pay raise for babysitting the kids."

"Tony, she's not even gotten her first paycheck yet."

"So?" Tony closed his eyes. "Babysitting wasn't in the position description."

"How do you know that?" Bruce eased closer, Tony could feel it. "Betty said Coulson asked JARVIS if you had a job position saved for her."

"Yeah." He was too tired to care what he said right now. "I figured if you wouldn't stay you'd at least visit if she was working for me."

Bruce's hand cupped Tony's cheek. It was wet again, damn watery eyes. Tony blinked his eyes open. Bruce looked concerned and sort of blurry.

"Tony, you don't always need to bribe people to be friends with you. I like you for you, not for your toys."

Right. Like that being himself was a good thing. "Okay."

Bruce sighed and patted Tony's armored knee. "I'll explain it to you when you aren't in shock."

He wiped angrily at his wet cheeks. "I'm not in shock."

"Okay." Bruce nodded and sat back. "I'll just be over here not believing you."

* * *

Coulson sat them down in the pre-dawn light on the roof of Stark Tower and got as close to Fury as he dared as he did it.

He herded the Avengers out of the quinjet, making sure to get the file Natasha had locked up. He tucked in his back waistband and flicked his suit jacket down over it.

Fury was frowning at them as they ignored him completely. Coulson stopped by Fury as the roof access door swung closed behind Clint.

"Enjoyable night?" Fury didn't sound overly upset.

"Lovely flying weather, Boss."

Fury gave a small snort before striding towards the quinjet. "Stark looked tired." Fury turned towards him partway up the ramp. "Keep up the good work, Agent."

Coulson nodded. "Thanks, Boss." He followed his team down into the tower, but not before squinting at the half-finished coop sitting on the opposite edge of the roof.

* * *

Bruce got to watch Tony, bare of his suit of armor, drop to lay between the children. Betty raised her head and smiled tiredly at him just as Natasha crowded him towards the kitchen.

"We need to talk."

"That sounds ominous." He watched her carefully as she sat down across the table from him.

She eyed him for a second before pushing a file with dogeared edges across the table at him. "I didn't curse because of what it says. I...wanted you to know I wasn't cursing because of you."

He frowned and opened the file. "Okay." He started to read and then he stopped. Bruce closed his eyes and breathed. "Why me?"

"If this is right..."

"Just tell me. Don't make me try to read through it." He couldn't process it. A file on him. His name, with his mom's fucking signatures showing she'd let them think she was a single mother.

"The family tree page is coded, but if I'm reading it correctly..." Natasha touched the back of his clenched hand. "Four half-siblings."

He took a shuddery breath. "Which side? My father?"

"Bruce." Natasha tapped Morse Code into the back of his hand until he looked up at her. "This says your biological father isn't the man you grew up calling father."

"Four?"

She turned the file and pointed. "This code is Jarod's. These two are his full siblings. This one is a half through his father. You are from that father."

Bruce leaned forward to rest his forehead on the cool of the marble tabletop. "Fuck."

"The last report says they decided not to extract you because of the unstable influence from a parent with an alcohol problem."

Bruce brought his hands up beside his head and laid them limply on the table. "He was a fucking drunkard." He lifted his head. "The rescued kids. We never checked them against me."

She nodded at him and handed him a tissue. "I'll have JARVIS check if he hasn't already. And this time we check against everyone."

He nodded and blew his nose. Then he went into the other room and crawled into the nest with everyone else. He'd think about it later. Much later.

Clint made a small noise of distress. Bruce patted the man's arm as he settled down between Clint and Francis. Tony was snoring on the other side of Francis.

Betty spread a blanket over him. "Sleep, Bruce. We'll work on fixing whatever it is once everyone has slept."

He nodded tiredly. There wasn't anything he could do about it now. He watched the color of his skin until his eyes slipped closed.

* * *

Pepper tried not to let her evil chackle out as the news went into overdrive about the conspiracy to destroy the country that breaking news of the destruction of the fertility clinics caused. Well, she allowed herself a small evil laugh. Then she reined it in and started checking for injuries or property damage they had not meant to cause.

Later she laughed as the news shows started talking about it being an act of God when they got around to the fertility clinic that had burned down from a lightning strike.

Once Tony had gotten enough sleep, Pepper found out about the baby older brother that hadn't made it. She found an acceptable headstone and arranged for it to be placed next to Tony's parents' graves as she listened to him ramble about stupid choices and what _had_ his parents been thinking. When Tony crashed again, Pepper called Thor to carry Tony back down to the kids.

Pepper found out about Bruce's suddenly expanded family from Betty a little while later and started hunting for them. The Centre might not have been able to find them, but the Centre had never had JARVIS.

She stopped for a moment to thank every deity she could remember a name for that the Centre hadn't been able to handle Tony. That he'd not given the Centre all the advances, weapons, tools, and, fuck, the AI's code that he'd made over the years.

Once she was sure everything she could do was as in place as she could get it, Pepper called Rhodey.


	20. Thor Cooks

Rhodey landed and started shedding the armor. The three clinics he'd been entrusted to destroy were gone, but Rhodey had gotten too low too fast on the descent to the second clinic. He was pretty sure he'd been noticed. He was pretty sure they had been drunk college students, but he'd darted behind a building too fast to be certain.

He picked up his phone to call Tony, but then he stopped. He closed his eyes and sighed. He needed to be in his office in two and a half hours. Sleep first, Tony later. Rhodey nodded to himself and headed home.

* * *

Francis watched Thor settled Tony back down on the blankets. "Is he okay?"

Thor patted Tony's back and then straighten up. "He is heartsick. It will fade with time." Thor held out his hand towards Francis. "Shall we see what there is to feast on?"

It had taken him a few days to get used to Thor's way of talking. "Yes." He held up his arms and Thor scooped him up. Francis watched Tony over Thor's shoulder until they were out in the hallway. "Is everyone heartsick right now?"

Thor sighed and turned into the kitchen. "Everyone is sadden from the knowledge of the loss of Anthony's sibling." Thor sat him on the floor.

Francis darted across the kitchen to his chair at the table and clambered up into it. Coulson was across the table, surrounded with files. "Are you heartsick?"

Phil looked up at him and then back to the papers. "No. I'm angry."

Francis looked him over carefully. "Are you sure?"

"Yes." Phil narrowed his eyes at him. "Why do you ask?"

"You are hard to read." Francis grinned up at Thor as he sat a glass of milk down in front of him. "Thanks."

"You are welcome." Thor moved to the stove and started a pan heating. "Would you feast with us, Son of Coul?"

Francis tried not to giggle as Phil rolled his eyes at Thor's back.

"Yes, I could eat." Phil looked at Francis. "How is the coop coming?"

Francis grinned. "Steve is doing everything for us. He says if we want we can ask Tony to make a garden on the roof." Francis pulled a file Phil wasn't actively reading towards himself. "Steve says he read about them and they reminded him of victory gardens."

Phil took the file away from him. "Why don't you go see if you can get Bruce to come eat?"

"Okay!" Francis hurried out of the kitchen. Out of sight of the adults he stopped and looked back frowning. The files had all had Centre's logo on them. Francis made a detour back to the movie room and checked that Tony was still sleeping. Beside him sat Steve drawing in his stetchbook.

Francis frowned because Steve felt just as bad as Tony had. If they were friends, then they could make each other happy. Francis grinned. He could help them become friends.

Thinking about how to get them to be friends, Francis headed for Bruce's floor.

* * *

Hanna kept her hands curled tight in Bruce's shirt as he paced. She only opened her eyes when they walked north so Bruce wouldn't see her reflection in the window and decide he needed to put her down.

"I wish I could ask her what she thought she was doing."

Betty looked clam, but was tensed worriedly. "She could have wanted children that weren't his."

Bruce tightened his arm around Hanna's back and kept pacing. "She never said."

"Maybe she didn't know?" Betty turned in her chair so she was kneeling, watching Bruce over the back of the armchair. "From what I've read of this Centre, they didn't exactly care about people."

Hanna held on as Bruce suddenly turned and moved towards Betty.

"Get her off me, Betty."

"Bruce, she has tangled her fingers in the buttonholes." Betty soothed her hand over Bruce's shoulder and winked at Hanna around Bruce's back.

Hanna smiled at her and made a unhappy whimper noise. Bruce muttered under his breath and went back to pacing.

"Clint isn't even sure how old Jarod is." Bruce went across the room and back again. "Tony should have gotten to be siblings with him, not me."

Betty frowned and Hanna considered kicking Bruce in the side.

"That's stupid." Betty stepped in the way of Bruce's pacing and wrapped herself around him on the side Hanna wasn't clinging to. "Bruce."

Bruce took deep breaths. "I can't endanger them. I just...can't, Betty."

She swept her hand up and down his back. "I know. Don't worry about that until we've found Jarod or the other half-siblings, okay?"

Hanna patted Betty's hand as Bruce buried his face in Betty's hair.

"Yeah, okay." Bruce stood there a little while. Then he hitched Hanna higher up his hip. "You are getting heavy, Hanna."

She smiled as he moved her to his other hip. "I like the things Thor makes that Phil says are pancakes."

Bruce smiled at her. "Yeah? Who taught Thor how to cook pancakes?"

Hanna patted Bruce on his wet cheek. "Tony gave us a box with the how-to on the back. Thor just followed what I said the box said."

Bruce cupped the back of her head before setting her down. "Why were you pretending to be asleep?"

She looked up at him and then yawned. "You needed someone to hold." Hanna shrugged. "I also was tired. Tony woke us up on accident."

Bruce nodded. "He did yell pretty loud when he had that nightmare."

Francis peeked his head in the door. "Thor says come feast with us."

Bruce chuckled and picked Hanna back up when she stuck out her arms. "You aren't going to be able to use your legs if you never walk."

Hanna kicked him with her heel as he followed Betty into the elevator. "I can walk fine. I just choose not to."

* * *

Tony woke in that groggy way that told him he'd not only slept a lot, he'd done something stupid like crying beforehand. He pulled a pillow over his face and pressed down.

The pillow was yanked away unceremoniously. "Stop sulking."

He glared up at Clint. "Who says I'm sulking."

Clint whacked him in the belly with the stolen pillow. "No one, but it made you feel something other than despair."

"Fuck you too." Tony closed his eyes and he dropped his head back down.

"You think you're the only one freaking out right now? Really, Stark?"

"No." He wasn't stupid. He knew Bruce was probably about to come apart at the seams. And the news would be screaming by now. He scrubbed his hand across his face. "Oh, damn. I had a nightmare."

"Yeah, you did." Clint nudged Tony's knee. "You woke up everyone. Then you went to bother Pepper and Thor carried you back in when she called him to come get you."

Tony rubbed the sore spot on his stomach. "Uh. No wonder I'm sore. Fireman carry." He squinted up at Clint. "Undignified?"

"Pretty much, but most everyone was back asleep by then." Clint grinned at him. "The destruction is dominating the news cycle."

"Well, wake up to over half of the countries' fertility clinics up in flames and someone is bound to have a fit." Tony pushed himself upright and looked over at Steve asleep with his stetchbook falling off his lap. "Is it evening?"

"Afternoon." Clint gestured towards the kitchen. "Thor's making dinner."

Tony raised his eyebrows. "Seriously? It isn't noodles again is it?"

"I didn't ask." Clint touched Tony's shoulder. "You don't need to be an ass just because we saw the end of one nightmare." He stood up and pulled Tony onto his feet. "Just so you know."

Tony grimaced and would have headed to his workshop except Clint didn't let go of him once he was on his feet. "Let me go."

"Food first. Assure yourself Bruce isn't going to be green in the next couple of hours. Then you can bury yourself in your workshop and act like no one else exists."

"I hate you."

Clint smiled and pulled Tony along with him. "No, you don't."

* * *

Rhodey's cell rang just as his boss knocked on his office door. Silencing the phone, Rhodey focused on his commanding officer's unhappy face.

"What can I do for you, sir?"

"Come with me."

Rhodey mentally groaned as he got up and followed. Behind him on the desk, his cell phone flashed that he'd missed a call from Pepper.


	21. Of Friends and Tasers

Francis helped Hanna up onto the bed. "See? I don't understand it either, but Phil says we're supposed to consider the rooms Tony has given us our own."

Hanna looked up at the star constellations on Francis' ceiling. "There isn't a lock on my door." She looked at him. "I can get out anytime I want."

Francis pointed at his door. "Mine too. No lock." He gestured to the books on the shelves. "The books don't all make sense."

Nodding, Hanna slipped off the bed. "Natasha said that they were like Stitch."

"Oh. Not factual. Okay." Francis knelt down beside Hanna where she was petting the leg of the fur covered bear on the bottom shelf. "Steve says that's a teddy bear. He seemed to think kids sleep with them."

"It is soft. Maybe it is meant to be a pillow?"

"I don't know." Francis pulled out his bouncy ball. "How many bounces are you up to?"

"Six." Hanna frowned. "You?"

"Five." He bounced the ball and caught it. "I was thinking about how Tony and Steve make each other sad. They should be friends. Like Tony and Bruce are becoming."

"We could help!" Hanna turned away from the teddy bear and clapped her hands. "We can convince them to like being friends." She tilted her head. "Tony will be harder to coax."

"Yeah." Francis tucked his ball away.

Hanna thought about if for a minute. "I did well with influencing Bruce." She tilted her head to the other side. "Betty helped too."

"Oh. Maybe we can get the other adults to help."

Hanna pushed herself up from the floor. "I'll go ask Bruce."

Francis followed her to the door. They grinned to each other as the door just opened right up when Francis turned the doorknob. "I'll see if Phil will help."

* * *

Clint rubbed his hands across his face as Coulson sat a cup of coffee down next to him. "Thanks."

Phil gave a little nod and sat across from Clint. "Bruce told me Hanna seemed to be clinging to him in an attempt to keep him calmer."

"Uh." Clint took a swig of his coffee. "I guess that worked since Stark is still in his lab and not trying to talk to the Hulk."

Francis clambered up into a chair beside them. "We need help."

Phil moved his coffee out of Francis' reach. "Who is we and help with what exactly?"

"Hanna and I think Tony and Steve should be friends."

Clint and Phil exchanged looks. Clint turned his cup around in his hands. "You can't make people be friends, Francis."

Francis nodded and then frowned. "We aren't making them." He interlaced his fingers and showed his hands to the adults. "We're going to make them see they can be friends."

Phil took a sip of his coffee. "What are you needing help with?"

"We think Tony will be harder to convince." Francis made a face as he unlaced his fingers. "Hanna said Betty helped her with Bruce, so I'm hoping you will help with Tony and Steve."

Clint ran his fingers through Francis' hair. "Sure. I'll talk to Nat for you."

Francis beamed at them. "Great!" He dropped down and zipped out of the room.

Phil looked at Clint. "And if they refuse to get their acts together?"

Clint smiled as he shrugged. "Then Nat can lock them in a room like she was telling me she's been considering."

Phil snorted and got up to get himself another cup of coffee.

* * *

Hanna slammed into Bruce's knee.

"Hey there." Bruce picked her up. "You okay?"

She nodded and snuggled closer. "I want to help Steve and Tony be friends."

"Oh." Bruce shifted her on his hip and started shutting down his workstation. "Maybe that's not such a good idea. Tony and Steve are...very different people."

She stuck out her lower lip. "They both need friends."

"Yes, they do." Bruce took her with him as he headed for Betty's lab. Tony had put her lab down the hall from Bruce's. "It is just that some people don't ever become friends. Tony and Steve may be that sort of people."

Hanna shook her head. "No." She waved at Betty through the glass wall. "They are just at the beginning of their _ohana_. Like Lilo and Stitch when Stitch wasn't ready for a family yet."

Bruce grinned at Betty as she raised an eyebrow at them. "And which is Tony in this scenario?"

"Stitch, of course. Tony is nearly indestructible in the suit."

Betty covered her laugh as she paused her computer program. "What's this about Tony being a bundle of destruction in a cute outfit?"

Hanna patted Bruce's arm. "Tony is like Stitch and Steve is like Lilo. They need help to be friends. I want help to help them. Bruce is resisting."

Betty looked over Hanna's head to find Bruce trying not to make a face. "Well, we'll just have to bribe Bruce to help." She crouched a little so her head was even with Hanna's. "How about we promise Bruce we'll watch _Sesame Street_ with him, hmm?"

Hanna looked up at Bruce. "What's _Sesame Street_?"

Bruce pushed his glasses up off his nose so he could rub his fingers across the bridge of his nose. "It is a show for small children. It is also useful for learning other languages when you don't have a teacher."

"Oh." Hanna frowned. "If I watch it with you will you help?"

Bruce smiled at Hanna and then rolled his eyes at Betty over Hanna's head. "Yes."

Hanna smiled up at him and then hugged Bruce tight. "Thank you!"

* * *

"Please sit, Lt. Colonel Rhodes."

Rhodey mentally grimaced at his full rank being used and sat down gingerly. "Sir."

Rhodey's commanding officer stood to one side of the room as the General sitting in his commander's chair folded his hands together.

"Your commander seems to think you are the perfect man of the assignment I've been saddled with."

Rhodey could see his commander stiffen ever so slightly out of the corner of his eye. "I'm sure I can handle it, sir."

The General leaned back in the chair and threw his feet up on the corner of the desk. "Well, before that I think I'd like to see you handle something a bit smaller." The man grinned as he put his hands behind his head. "Think of it has a vacation before your next assignment."

Rhodey kept his expression neutral as a folder appeared from his commander. He took it and opened it up. After reading for a moment, Rhodey snapped the file closed and sighed. "Sir, I don't..." He stopped as he thought about that low fly-by from the night before and quickly decided not to turn down a chance to get out of the area. "...think I can convince Dr. Foster to move into a building with Tony Stark."

The General dropped his feet from the desk, put his elbows on the blotter, and leaned forward with his chin on his hands. "I think you might want to downplay that, yes." He stood. "You might ask Stark about making you some sort of cloaking for your suit of armor while you are there."

Rhodey could only stare at the General as he left, whistling as he went. Rhodey's commanding officer clapped him on the arm. "It's only temporary, Rhodes."

Rhodey nodded, blinked, and then hightailed it out of there as soon as Colonel Davis dismissed him.

* * *

Darcy frowned as the door opened to a military somebody. "No." She started to slam the door, but the guy shoved his body into the opening. "Hey! No breaking and entering."

"I'm not breaking anything. I need to speak to Dr. Foster."

Darcy kept her body braced against the door. The guy would run out of air eventually and she'd get a chance to go for her taser. "She's not speaking to anybody. The last time she talked to a goverment toadie I had to move in the middle of the night." She shoved hard on the door. "I lost my iPod again. I'd just gotten it back from Coulson."

The guy blinked. "You know Coulson?"

"Darcy? Who are you trying to close in the door?"

Darcy shoved her hip into the door so she could turn her upper body towards Jane. "Some military corney. He wants to talk to you."

Jane came closer and looked him over. "And why do I want to talk to you?"

The guy twisted and sort of fell through the door. "I'm supposed to take you to Stark tower in New York." He spread his hands wide as Darcy pointed a taser at him. "Uhm. Agent Coulson is there too?"

Jane put her hand over top of Darcy's taser and pointed towards the floor. "Is Thor there?"

"Uhm. Yeah, actually. He is."

Darcy covered her ears as Jane went up on her tiptoes and squealed. Then, Jane turned and zipped out of the room. Darcy turned back to the guy and smiled.

"She's a little nuts."

He nodded and stuck his hand out. "Yeah, I can see that. I'm Rhodey."

She shifted her taser to her other hand so she could shake. "Darcy. Is there time to get tacos on the way there? I'll starve otherwise and it isn't good for Jane to see me suffer like that."

The guy just grinned. "I'm sure we can find you something to eat. Maybe an MRE."

She wrinkled her nose. "Not cool at all." Darcy ignored Rhodey as he smiled wider. "Tacos or else, mister."

* * *

Rhodey leaned against Tony's workshop table. "I just got temporarily assigned to bodyguard Dr. Foster. You have anything to do with that?"

Tony looked like he was engrossed, but Rhodey could see him using the metal in front of him as a mirror. "Me? Never." Tony soldered a connection before turning around. "You assume I can control the military now? That's a nice thought, but no." His eyebrows went up. "You might ask JARVIS. He's been pretty quiet lately."

Rhodey rubbed his hand across his face. "I'm serious, Tony. I had a General, who never did say who he was with exactly, assign me to this as a test for another possible assignment." Rhodey waved with one hand to indicate all of the tower. "I'm in a building with a bunch of...superheroes, kids, and little chickens..."

"Chicks."

"What?"

"Chicks." Tony patted Rhodey on the shoulder as he passed him to get to the desk. "When they are full grown, and only then, are they referred to as chickens." Tony leaned over and winked at Francis under his desk. "Did you know that while they are young they get called pullets if they are female?

Rhodey sighed. "Why am I here, Tony?"

Natasha breezed in and pulled Francis from under the desk. "Rhodes, the question to ask yourself is how long are you going to last here if Darcy uses her taser on Banner."

Rhodey's eyes went wide and he quickly left the room.

Francis shook his head from where he was on Natasha's hip. "That wasn't very nice."

She smiled at him. "I know." She looked at Tony's work and then back at him. "Move it. Lunch."

Tony gave her a mock salute. "Yes, ma'am." He smiled to himself as the shadow in the vent above Barton's corner nest moved. He wasn't going to be the last one to lunch then.


	22. Explaining the Centre to Darcy and Jane

Darcy slid into a seat beside the guy with the short dark hair and watched Thor try to break Jane's ribs with his hug. "Hi. I'm Darcy Lewis."

The guy stuck his hand out towards her without ceasing to watch Thor and Jane. "Clint Barton."

"So...what do you do around here?"

"I shot things mostly." Clint titled his head. "Are they always like this?"

Darcy watched Thor sat Jane down on her feet, only to grab her back up into another hug. "They tone it down after about an hour. Jane's ribs start protesting."

"Hmmm." Clint looked at her from the corner of his eye. "You seem a little out of place."

Darcy shrugged. "If I lose Jane I'll never get my college credits. Although, it isn't like I've actually gotten to class in a while. Secret relocations for our safety have wreaked havoc on my schedule." She leaned further back into the couch. "Since it has gotten me a room in Stark Tower and the chance to buddy up to the Avengers I'll forgive Coulson for talking whoever into moving us. Again." She tucked one foot up under her own thigh. "I'm not forgiving the lost ipod."

Coulson sighed as he settled between them and handed Darcy an ipod. "Enough about the ipod, Miss Lewis."

Darcy gasped and grabbed the ipod to inspect it. Then she stopped and narrowed her eyes at Coulson. "This is totally a bribe. What for?"

Coulson handed Darcy a tablet. "Watch this, please."

Clint eased around so he could watch Darcy's face and still keep Thor and Jane in his line of sight. Darcy popped in her headphones and watched the cued up video. She blinked several times and touched the screen to stop the video before ripping the headphones out of her ears.

"Fuck me." She shoved the tablet back at Coulson. Then she leaned forward over her knees and hugged them to herself. "I didn't really listen when Thor visited and told Jane about wanting to help these kids." She turned her head to rest her cheek on her knee so she could look at them. "The fertility clinics were connected, weren't they?"

"Yes." Coulson brought up another file on the tablet. "There are two children here. The boy, Francis, is a clone of Clint. The girl, Hanna, is his daughter. She was created without his knowledge." He turned the tablet so she could see it showing a picture of the kids watching the chicks.

"Oh, wow. They are so cute." Darcy sat back up. "We're talking, like, boy in a bubble, right? No idea about the outside world?"

Coulson nodded. "Essentially."

Darcy looked past Coulson to Clint. "Cloned? Seriously?"

Clint made a face as he shrugged.

Darcy sat back and watched Jane tuck a strand of hair behind Thor's ear. "Has anyone taken Francis and Hanna shopping?"

Tony Stark grabbed the ipod out of Darcy's hand. "What the hell is this doing in my tower?" Tony turned the ipod over and over as Darcy chased after him. He kept going until they were in the next room. "JARVIS, close the door."

Darcy spun and watched the door close before turning back just in time to catch her ipod as Tony tossed it at her. "What...?"

"The kids can't handle being outside for more than fifteen minutes at a time right now, so no, no shopping." Tony pointed at her with his chin. "You seem smart, given the scores I had JARVIS look up."

Darcy blinked and then glared. "You hacked my file to get those scores, didn't you?"

Tony shrugged. "Could have done it in my sleep. You need a better college." He smiled. "Or better yet, you need a better career."

"What are you proposing?"

Tony smiled. "See? Smart." He flicked a wall panel on and pulled up the farm Steve had chosen. "What G-man out there didn't mention was that there's a bunch of kids with no families or homes that we can't just chuck into the foster care system." He tapped the old farm house. "Three more weeks and it'll be ready for them. And they'll need a teacher."

"What? Me?" She poked the layout and it magnified the half-built school building. "Have you met me?"

Tony flicked the panel off. "I have about, what? Five minutes ago?" He sighed. "Look, they are going to need someone that can adjust to them. You handle weirdness alright. Don't tase the kids though." He grinned as she flipped him off. "You also won't let them think of themselves as nothing more than the simulations they've run, will you?"

Darcy swallowed. "It is a lot worse than that little intro video Coulson just showed me isn't it?"

"Yes." Tony stared at her.

With a deep breathe, Darcy stepped closer. "I'm completely and totally not qualified."

Tony smiled and wrapped his arm around her shoulder as he led them back towards the other room. "Yes, actually, you really are."

* * *

Steve slowly smiled as he realized that the young lady that had come along with Dr. Foster was chatting so much the kids didn't even seem to notice they were outside.

"And this is...Oh, wow." The young lady was staring at him with her mouth hanging open.

Steve put down the panel he was about to attach to the coop. He stood up and wiped his hands off before offering one to her. "Miss Lewis, right? I'm Steve Rogers."

She raised her eyebrows, blinked, took his hand, and snapped her mouth closed. "You are him, aren't you? Really? You totally look like him."

Steve took his hand back before she could decide to keep it. "Him?"

"Captain America? You know, the guy with the shield."

Hanna wiggled until Darcy sat her down. "Steve's shield will bounce." She zipped over to where Steve had leaned his shield. Hanna stroked it and then ran over to clutch at Steve's knee. "Steve needs friends."

Darcy bit her lip and smiled down at Hanna. "Being displaced like he has? Oh, yeah, friends would be a good idea." She checked her watch and then tilted her head at the coop. "Francis, how many chickens will the little house thing hold?"

Francis moved from where he'd pressed himself to Darcy's side and started talking about the dimensions and ventilation of the coop.

Steve stared as Hanna started to chatter right along with Francis as Darcy grinned wide at her watch. "Ma'am?"

She started and looked up. "Hanna said you came to the hospital to visit."

Steve turned and started putting tools away. "I thought they could use a visitor."

"You took them crayons?"

"And paper." Steve shrugged as he went to pick up his shield. "They don't know how to play with toys."

Hanna put her arms up and Steve picked her up. "Is the teddy bear supposed to be used as a pillow?"

"Wow." Darcy picked up Francis and headed for the roof access door. "Teddy bears are for dragging around with you everywhere. Telling secrets to, having tea parties with, using it as a weapon on your siblings...Lots of stuff can be done with a teddy bear."

Steve followed her inside. "Why were you looking at your watch?"

Darcy ruffled Hanna's hair. "They bet their old outdoor time by four minutes. Good job, kiddo."

Francis frowned. "What's 'kiddo' mean?"

Darcy sat him on his feet as they waited for the elevator. "Term of endearment. It means I like you and Hanna."

Hanna tucked herself tighter to Steve. "Does it only get used on children? Or can Steve call Tony a kiddo?"

Steve could feel her wrapping a tiny hand on the edge of his shield, but he kept quiet as he watched Darcy's eyebrows climb.

"What? No, no. Kids only." She looked at Hanna. "Bruce said that you are going to get to see _Sesame Street_ tonight?"

Hanna leaned backwards before tilting so she hit Steve's side. "Betty says we're bribing Bruce, but he really wants Francis and me to see it."

Steve looked down at the top of Hanna's head. "Why are you bribing Bruce?"

She looked up at him and smiled. "He's helping."

When she didn't say what Bruce was helping with, Steve looked at Darcy who smiled at him.

"Dr. Ross said not to say." Darcy patted him on the shoulder. "It'll be easier in the long run to give up on brooding and just go with it."

Steve started to ask what exactly 'it' was, but didn't get the chance as the elevator opened up to the common floor. Darcy hurried forward with Francis waving at him from her hip. Steve waved back, along with Hanna, as he followed.

* * *

Natasha sat on the corner perch with Clint as the credits of another episode rolled. "Why did they explain Mr. Hooper's death? Most children's programing ignores anything children actually want to know about."

Clint looked over the sleeping people below them and waved at Hanna when she turned to point at the screen as the next episode started. "They thought the kids would understand it and that it was better than him just disappearing."

"Hmm." She leaned into him as he clenched and unclenched his hand. "You are okay."

He took a breath. "Yeah, I'll be okay."

* * *

Jane looked at the panel that showed the remaining Council members and the known members of the Triumvirate. "So, this Council made this Triumvirate so they could better disavow the existence of the Centre if anything like you all happened?" She waved her hand towards the sleeping Avengers.

Coulson nodded as he flicked the next part of the relevant data onto the screen. "There isn't much of it left."

Jane nodded. "I saw the news." She tapped a file and read it. "How many people do you think the Centre affected?"

"Tens of thousands." Coulson pulled up the family trees they'd worked out so far. "Several of the children are related to each other."

"Makes sense." Jane sighed as she turned towards the group where the adults were ranged around the two children. "I just want to squish them both to me and never let anyone touch them again. Did you see her reaction to the Cookie Monster?"

Coulson handed her a handkerchief to twist in her hands. "Yes, I did."

"It is no wonder Thor looked ragged when he visited." Jane looked at Coulson. "Thank you for arranging that visit, by the way."

He smiled. "You are welcome."

* * *

Hanna crawled out of the middle of the people pile and went to the room with the growing chicks. She petted her favorite and then she climbed carefully onto the armchair closest to the wall panel. "Mr. JARVIS, can I watch the hospital kids again, please?"

"Of course, Miss Hanna."

She smiled at him calling her an honorific as the panel lit up to show the group Hanna had been in. They were sleeping, but she could see that they'd used more of the crayons. Someone had brought them more paper. The toys were still on the table, but had been moved around some. "They are getting better?"

"Yes, they are progressing."

Hanna slide off the chair. "Good. Thanks, Mr. JARVIS."

"As always, you are welcome, Miss Hanna."

She patted Bruce on the leg as she passed by him on her way back to her spot. Hanna gently moved Steve's arm until he was brushing arms with Tony and then she slipped under their arms and went to sleep.


	23. Of hugs and Macy's

Steve checked under Tony's desk to make sure Francis wasn't there to hear. "Tony."

Tony threw down the tool he was using. "This about the plan to get us to be friends?"

"What?" Steve settled onto a stool across from Tony. "Well, sort of, but not..." He leaned down a little to catch Tony's eyes. "They want us to get along."

Tony sighed. "I can fake it..."

Steve rubbed his hand across the side of his face. "Tony." He waited for Tony to look at him. "I know you don't like me and that's fine. Okay? We don't have to try to be friends just because the kids want us to be. You and Bruce get along much better and I..."

"Wait, wait. Hang on. You think _I_ don't like you? Seriously?"

Steve nodded at Tony confused expression. "Yes. I understand. I let SHIELD's reports influence me too much and I said things that I should have thought through better..."

"Wow." Tony blinked and leaned back a little. "You totally don't get it, do you?"

"Uhm. No?"

Tony stood up and came around the corner of the table to Steve's side. He waved a hand at Steve. "You are all..._you_. Good stuff rolled up in a pretty package." He made a face. "I grew up being told how important it was I keep looking for you. Well, my company, but whatever." He tapped the arc reactor. "You are like the anti-me, Steve. I don't think the brief on me that they gave you was harsh enough."

Steve blinked and caught up to Tony as he started to walk away. "Stop. You aren't..."

Tony had that same look he'd gotten on the helicarrier. "Don't lie."

Steve huffed and yanked Tony forward into a hug. He ignored Tony's feeble flailing. "Stop it, Tony. You are a good person. A very good person. Not just for your armor or your plans." He carefully tightened his hold on Tony. "I like you fine, Tony."

Steve held on for a few more minutes and then watched silently as Tony fled.

* * *

Bruce glanced up as Tony slid to a stop on the other side of his table. "Hey." He pushed his glasses up his nose. "You okay?"

Tony blinked and then pinched himself. "I think I'm having a waking dream or something."

"Okay." Bruce checked the time. Tony hadn't been up too long. "Did you expose yourself to something dangerous?"

"Steve hugged me."

Bruce's eyebrows climbed. "Okay." He started shutting down the computer program he had running. "Tony?"

Tony patted his chest where the arc reactor was and then continued the motion down himself to his sides. "I don't know why."

It was times like this that Bruce wished he had video feeds on Tony's lab like Tony had on his. "Did you give him something?"

"No." Tony frowned. "We were talking about the kids' trying to make us friends. I said I understood why he didn't like me and he just _grabbed_ me and told me I was good." Tony drug a hand down his face. "Fuck. He called me a good person, Bruce. Who does that?"

Bruce took Tony by the elbow. "Why don't we go tweak the farm's plans, okay?"

"Yeah." Tony smiled. "I'm in shock again, aren't I?"

"Little bit, probably." Bruce stirred Tony out the door. "You aren't used to hugs, are you?"

Tony laughed. "I hug people." He leaned into Bruce's side. "No, no, I don't. That's a lie. I pretend. Pepper hugged me once. Right after I'd almost died, again."

"That's not exactly what I'm talking about."

"Yeah." Tony sighed. "I'm tired."

"I know." Bruce punched the button for the elevator.

* * *

Hanna crawled back along the duct to her father's nest. "Can I come in?"

Clint pulled her up and in. "Hey, Hanna."

She snuggled into his side. "Bruce implied there are different kinds of hugs. Kermit did too. Is there a chart I could have that explains?"

Clint rubbed his fingers through her hair. "I'll draw you one."

"Thank you." She waited until he'd fallen asleep and climbed down. She went along the ducts until she got to the place she could use to get down. She dropped out of the ceiling and landed on the fluffy couch that Clint and Thor had moved just for her and Francis to land on.

Hanna hurried down the hallway and found Francis. "Tony told Bruce Steve hugged Tony."

Francis grinned. "That's progress." He wrote it down in their project book he had started. "Darcy wants to take us shopping."

"Pepper said shopping is going out and picking out things you want. Then you bring them home."

With a frown, Francis hid their project book back behind the bookshelf. "Why should we do that when we can just ask JARVIS?"

Hanna shrugged. "I don't know, but Darcy seemed to think it was important."

Francis nodded. "We can try it, I guess."

* * *

Francis peered over the countertop. "What are you making?"

Coulson pushed a step-stool over. "Wash your hands and you can help. I'm making cookies."

"Oh." Francis washed his hands and then waited while Coulson pushed the step-stool back over. "For the next time Cookie Monster is on the show?"

"That too." Coulson put the bowl of dough between them. He handed Francis two spoons. "You pick up a spoonfull like this and then use the other spoon to push it off onto the pan."

Francis watched carefully and then tried it. "It is sticky."

"A little, yes." Coulson got another pan and started filling it as Francis worked on his. "How do you like Miss Lewis?"

Francis looked up, his tongue sticking out the side of his mouth. He blinked a couple of times and went back to spooning dough. "She's loud."

"Has she scared you at all?"

"No." Francis pushed dough off onto the pan. "She is very straightforward. She doesn't hide."

"Good." Coulson switched pans. "Use the back of your spoon to flatten the ball out a little."

Francis started smashing dough balls down. "Hanna is worried she'll have to go to the farm home because Tony hasn't said she can stay here like he's told me."

Coulson switched the pans again and let Francis flatten that pan too. "Hanna stays here, just like you. Both of you can visit the farm if you want. Even take classes there once it is all up and running, but you both live here." Coulson gently turned Francis' head. "You are Clint's family. Our family, Francis."

He smiled and put his hand on Coulson's chest. Coulson covered it with his own hand.

* * *

Darcy stared up at Macy's. "You bought out the whole place, seriously?"

Tony shrugged and herded everyone inside. "Just for the afternoon."

Steve pulled the blanket off Hanna as soon as they were inside. She looked around with wide eyes. Steve sat her on her feet and held her hand. "The whole store, Tony?"

Tony turned, grinned at him, and flung his arms wide. "Quieter this way."

Natasha pushed passed them carrying Francis. "Less tabloid photos." She grabbed Hanna's free hand. "Toys first. Let's go."

Steve let them drag him along. He knew by now to just ignore the price tags on everything. It all looked damn expensive because of inflation coupled with completely different manufacturing practices.

Hanna squealed and dropped their hands when she saw a Sesame Street display. She ran up to it and clapped her hands, but didn't reach out to touch anything. She turned back towards them and bounced a little. "Cookie Monster!"

Steve smiled and picked her up so she could reach the stuffed Cookie Monster on the next to top shelf. She stopped with her hands outstretched. Steve frowned behind her back at Natasha who shrugged and pointed at Francis staring at a SI robot kit without touching.

Darcy appeared at his shoulder, went up on her tiptoes, and snagged the Cookie Monster toy. "Good choice, Hanna." She shoved it into Hanna's arms. "You think we should get some for the farm school?"

Hanna reverently stroked the blue fur. "Maybe some teddy bears too?" She looked up at Steve.

Steve smiled and hugged Hanna close. "Teddy bears too."

* * *

Pepper slipped in to stand beside Tony looking down on the group in the toy section. "You could join them."

Tony patted the top of the railing in front of them. "And break up the little family moment? Nah."

"The whole store, Tony?"

He shrugged. "Better than someone thinking I've had secret kids."

"Hmm." Pepper looked at him out of the corner of her eye. The wistful expression was firmly entrenched. She left him and went looking for Clint.

Clint was arguing suits with Coulson.

Pepper pointed at the better tie. "That one for Phil."

Clint smiled. "See, she agrees with me."

Phil sighed. "It is brown."

Pepper looked at Clint's frowning. "Phil, are you colorblind?"

"Oh. Slightly." Phil took the suit to a nearby counter and put it under the light. "Ah. Okay. I agree it looks alright."

Pepper smiled. "I need to steal Clint for a minute."

Phil waved a hand at them. "Sure. I was about to look at bakewares."

Pepper grabbed Clint by the arm and pulled him with her. "I need you to make sure Hanna and Francis pick something out for Tony. Doesn't matter what. I could care less. Just something."

"They have a list."

Pepper stopped. "What?"

Clint smiled at her. "We made a list. Francis figured out people give and gets gifts and he told Hanna, but neither of them understand holidays or birthdays yet." He shrugged. "So they asked me if they could get gifts. We made a list."

"Oh." Pepper smiled and hugged him. "That's great."

* * *

Bruce settled on the couch in his lab and sighed. "Still nothing on the half-siblings, JARVIS?"

"Not as yet, Doctor. They appear to be actively avoiding detection."

He could understand that. The whole family had been hunted for so long. "Thanks again for looking."

"I will continue searching."

Bruce sighed as he nodded and he pulled the journals he'd gotten from the store out of the bag. He sat them on the counter and headed to the movie room. They were supposed to watch _Labyrinth_. He didn't want to miss it.

* * *

Clint frowned at his chart. He picked up the tablet he had it on and went to find Natasha. "Hey, Nat. I need help with this."

Natasha looked up from pulling up her new legwarmers the kids had given her with the spiders on them. "With what?"

He sat beside her and handed over the tablet. "Hanna needs a chart for hugs."

Nat swore under her breath in Russian. "A chart?"

Clint nodded. "To help her learn which is what kind of hug. They aren't all the same."

"We'll need Coulson's help." Nat covered her face with her hands for a moment and then handed him back the tablet. "What are you having trouble with?"

* * *

Betty smiled at the kids as they held out a fluffy Hulk toy. "Thanks." She hugged it to her chest. "I love it."

Hanna poked Francis in the side. "See? I told you she'd like it."

Francis glanced up at her and Betty soothed back the boy's hair.

"I do love it, Francis. And I understand why you'd worry I might not like it." She sat the little Hulk right where Bruce couldn't miss it. She was going to have to remember to ask JARVIS for a still of his face when he saw it. "What did you get everyone else? Pepper said you were getting gifts."

Hanna beamed and started chattering about the various items they'd gotten.

* * *

Coulson stared at the box on his bed for a minute. "JARVIS, are you functional?"

"I am operating within specified parameters. Was there something you needed, Agent Coulson?"

The box was wrapped in paper and had Hanna's handwriting of his name on the top. "No, thank you, JARVIS." Phil picked up the box and carefully pulled the paper off. The inside was a picture of him and Francis baking, signed by Francis.

Phil opened the box and smiled. "Oh. Thank you for letting the children wrap them, JARVIS."

"They were extremely careful, Agent Coulson. Might I suggest you check the bottommost cases?"

Phil carefully tipped out the trading cards in their protective cases until he hit the bottom two. They were numbered as though they continued the last series and they had obviously been hand drawn. "Where is Rogers right now?"

"He is in the movie room. The movie for tonight is _Labyrinth_."

Phil carefully put the cards on his nightstand and went to start the popcorn.

The two hand drawn cards sat on top. The first with Captain America in the uniform Phil had helped design. The second with Coulson holding the shield of Captain America.

* * *

Tony stared down the card in his hand. "What is this?"

Hanna looked at him like he was an idiot. "It is a hug-me-now card."

Francis tapped the laminated card. "You give it to someone and they give you a hug."

Hanna smiled. "And then you get the card back and you give them a hug." She pointed at the card. "It says so right on it."

Hanna yanked the card out of Tony's hand. "See? You gave me the card. Now I give you a hug." She latched onto him and Tony's breath caught. Then she pushed back and dropped the card in his lap. "Now I gave it back. You have to hug me." She stared at him expectantly. "Now."

Tony blinked and gingerly hugged her.

With a huff, Hanna tightened her hold on him. "I won't break."

"No, you won't." Tony whispered in her ear and Hanna squealed as she leaned back.

"Really?"

"I said it didn't I?"

Hanna hugged him for a moment more and then clambered down. She zipped over to Steve and climbed up into his lap. "Tony says I can stay here forever with you and everyone else."

Steve smiled at her. "That's great, Hanna."

Francis sat a bag on Steve's knee. "You next."

Steve opened the bag and smiled. "Thank you both." He pulled the picture of the Howling Commandos out of the bag.

"JARVIS looked it up for us." Hanna pointed at the end of the group where Peggy and Colonel Phillips stood. "He helped us put them into the same picture with the rest." She looked up at him. "Is it okay?"

Steve touched the frame gently. "It is wonderful, Hanna."

Francis pulled Hanna down and Steve was glad the movie started up so he could concentrate on something else for a little while.

* * *

Pepper opened her email to find Francis had emailed her. She frowned and opened the file he attached and stared. "JARVIS, could you check the numbers in this stock file Francis sent me?"

"Of course, Miss Potts." There was a few moments of silence. "I agree with Francis that those positions would be ideal. Would you like me to implement it upon the opening bell in the morning, ma'am?"

She stared at the expected yield. "Yes, please." She closed down the tablet. "Thank you, JARVIS."

* * *

Clint stared down at the kid's present in his hand. The thin braid had a different color for each strand. Blond from Francis, light brown from Hanna, and red they must have talked Natasha into giving up. He touched the tiny capsule it was encased in. He'd seen the machine in the jewelry section, but he hadn't given it any real thought.

He dropped silently down from his perch and settled just behind Hanna where she lay between Steve and Bruce on Tony's legs. "Thank you, Hanna."

She smiled sleepily up at him. "You like it?"

"Yes." He brushed her hair back from her forehead. "I like you very much."

* * *

Tony sat aside the hug card. "JARVIS, make sure I don't lose this."

"I shall endeavor to keep track of it, sir."

"Good." Tony checked his various feeds and smiled at Coulson turning the trading cards over carefully. "Did Steve get that second set signed?"

"Yes, sir. They are ready to be given to Agent Coulson at lunch as requested, sir."

Tony nodded and tapped the search for Bruce's family up to the forefront. "Still nothing?"

"They are hiding from the Centre, sir. It is possible they have learned to avoid all electronic tracking measures as a result."

"Yeah." Tony checked the vital signs for everyone he tracked next. That done, he pulled up the list of things he'd paid for at the store. Not bad for an afternoon. He checked off a few items for the school that Darcy had picked up at the store.

Then he checked the school. It was about finished enough to be livable. It just needed a name. Not his, since it needed to be semi-quiet. He played virtual basketball while he thought. "Safe Haven." He liked the sound of that. He checked it for conflicts in the area and then started the paperwork to register it under Darcy's name.


	24. A Safe Haven, A Homecoming: Rescue

**A/N:** Jon is the clone of a main Stargate SG-1 character, General Jack O'Neill. The clone didn't age correctly when he was made and is fifteen-ish in 2003 (air date for that episode, Fragile Balance). It was a once off and they never mention him again. So in my head cannon for this he gets kidnapped by the Centre and the Air Force, being in the middle of saving the world, overlooks it. Ooops.

Jon, having Jack's knowledge at the time of the cloning, is an adult in a teenage body for all intents and purposes. This freaks out Pretenders to no end because, well, think about it. Jon will reference things I'll explain fully later. If you want to know now, just google the wikia for Stargate SG-1 and check the characters Daniel Jackson and Dr. Janet Fraiser. Remember Jon only knows information for SGC up to 2003. Okay? Okay.

* * *

_The day the Centre was destroyed:_

* * *

Jon frowned at the sudden spike in noise. They'd put him in a completely bare block room after the fifth time he'd nearly made it out. The rat bastards. There was normally no outside noise at all. Jon stood up from the corner he'd designated his bed and then crouched back down as a massive piece of the wall caved in. "Wow."

The huge green guy blinked at him and then went right on down the hallway, smashing as he went. Jon stared after him for a few seconds before grabbing the boy in the next cell over by the arm.

"Move it." He started herding them up and out. They hit the sub-level with the little kids and Jon suddenly found himself staring at Captain America. Which, wow, they really got someone to start _that_ up again? He took the little boy the guy passed to him.

"Keep moving up."

Well, those sorts of orders he could handle. Jon grabbed the hand of one of the older kids. "Come on." He kept them moving up. One of the goons that they used to restrain him appeared on a landing above them and Jon started to set down the child he was carrying so he could fight when a knife went zipping past to embed itself in the goon's neck.

The redheaded lady pushed on the last-most kid. "Keep going."

Jon made sure to kick the downed goon on the way past.

On the surface it looked like they were tearing apart the whole place. There was a man in a suit beckoning to kids and moving them all towards a large helicopter. Jon approved of this and tugged on the boy he had ahold of. The kid was staring at the sky like he'd never seen it.

Jon needed to find a damn phone. He pulled the kid along. When they reached the helicopter he put the kid he was carrying up and in and then boosted the boy in. He went back and picked up a kid that was sitting and rocking on her heels, crying.

The redhead put a little girl down next to the helicopter and they all ducked as the place gave a huge crack as something down below gave way.

"Up and in, kid."

The little girl stared at him. "Wow."

Jon had gotten used to it. All the kids they made come stand in the same room with him had the same reaction. Or they started screaming and crying. Jon still wasn't sure what they could do that caused it. "Just wrap yourself in the cargo webbing, okay?"

She nodded and started helping the crew wrap the unresponsive ones in securely. Jon turned and boosted the next little kid.

* * *

Jon watched the Centre, as he'd heard someone call it, collapse in on itself as the helicopter rose up into the air. The green guy had pulled it down it looked like. The noise of the helicopter kept anyone from asking anyone else questions. The skyline of New York was a beautiful sight. Jon leaned back against the side of the helicopter and fell asleep.

He woke up as someone started to pick him up. He held still and cracked an eye open. Captain America was carrying him into a hospital. His life just kept getting weirder. Jon closed his eyes and went back to sleep.

* * *

Jon kept quiet. None of the kids in his 'age' group were talking, so Jon didn't either. He watched them shy from the windows and not touch anything unless it was literally put in their hands. The nurses were trying. They even brought in a shrink that reminded Jon more of Dr. Frasier than any actual shrink he'd dealt with.

He smiled at the woman, but still wouldn't talk. He kept hoping he'd get a chance at a phone. He had a vague idea he'd been in the Centre for at least several months. No natural light had made it a bitch to keep track of time. Then he got a look at the date on the TV news and just stared. Years, it had been _years_.

He found a window that overlooked the wing they had the younger children in. Jon spent his time watching the little kids not be kids. It was really weird. He'd only seen other people in the Centre when they made a kid stand in the same room with him. Or when he'd tried to escape again and the goons, Cleaners, had beaten the hell out of him.

Then came the day Captain America came to visit. Jon just stared. The man looked just like him. It was really disconcerting. Jon had collected the trading cards when he was little. Well, the original him had. Stupid cloning.

He watched a one of the kids approached and sat down on the floor with the man. Jon finally turned away when the nurse called them for breakfast. At least they got cereal. He was the only one that seemed to like it.

The rest of the kids avoided him. The nurses smiled sadly at him, but Jon didn't respond to that either. He really needed a damn phone, but he knew they'd ask him a million questions instead of just letting him at a phone.

Shortly after breakfast, the Captain America wannabe showed up. Jon stared at him along with everyone else as he sat on the floor and spread crayons and paper out around himself.

The man started to draw. Really well, like one of the comics said Captain America could do. Jon walked over and stared down at the man.

"Uh, hi." He pushed a crayon at Jon. "You want to draw?" He went back to the green man he was drawing.

"Who is that?" Jon couldn't help himself. He'd never seen anything like it.

The man looked startled. "He's called the Hulk. His name is Bruce Banner when he isn't green."

Jon nodded. "Okay." He took the gray crayon and started drawing Thor choking Loki. The man frowned at Jon's drawing.

"Who is that?"

"Thor and Loki."

The guy did a double take. "Really?" He quickly stretched something that looked like that huge blond guy that had been putting kids into the other side of the helicopter from Jon. "This is Thor."

Jon frowned, debating revealing classified information before mentally shrugging. It had been years, after all. "Mine is an Asgard."

"So is Thor." The guy tilted his head. "When did yours come to Earth?"

Jon raised his eyebrows. "Lately? Last time I saw him was in 2003." Jon pointed at the other Thor. "What address is he dialing from?"

The guy looked down at the picture of his Thor and then back to Jon. "I don't think they dail anything. Tony said they used negative energy to open a space tunnel or tear thing. He got to babbling, so I'm not exactly sure."

Jon blinked. "Huh. Different technology then." He took a blank sheet and started a diagram for his favorite jet. "How'd you get talked into taking up the job of Captain America?"

"Uhm" The guy started to blush. It reminded Jon strongly of Daniel. "I am Steve Rogers. They pulled me out of the ice and I wasn't dead."

Jon cleared his throat. "No cerebral meningitis?"

Rogers blinked again. "No." He looked at Jon. "You aren't a Pretender?"

"There was one guy that called me that." Jon put down the gray crayon and found a nice brown that matched what Jon remembered of Daniel's hair. "I broke his neck trying to escape a few weeks later. They never called me that again."

With a nod, Rogers went back to drawing.


	25. Jon meets Hanna

Jon huffed as the other kids backed away from him as they gathered for lunch. He got his lunch and retreated to his window. He watched the little kids chatter at each other, but still no playing. A few drew pictures.

Bored with kid watching, Jon got up and started wondering his ward. The nurses had propped most of the doors open so they couldn't close. It had helped with some of the kids that would just sit and rock.

Jon eyed the phone on the nurse's desk. He didn't want to hurt anyone to get at a phone, because these people certainly weren't like the ones in the Centre. He rubbed a hand through his hair.

The shrink showed up and Jon didn't feel like listening to her today, so he went back to his window and frowned. There were adults huddled under the little kid's window. They were in tactical gear. Small squad formation.

"Shit." Jon turned and ran for the nurses station. He slid on his socked feet until he hit the desk. The nurse looked up with wide eyes. "There's armed men outside the little kids' window."

"What?"

Jon didn't wait for her to catch up. He snatched her keycard from her scrub top and darted around the desk. He got out of the ward and was mentally working out how to get to the kids' floor the fastest, when an alarm started to sound.

Jon dodged a security guard and slipped down the railing of the stairs to get himself to the first floor faster. He never wished for his old special ops team more than that moment. Hell, he'd have taken the team that had left him seemingly dead in Iraq right now.

One good thing about being a clone was his knees were young again. Jon slid along the hallway and slapped the keycard to open the fire escape door for the ward just as the power went out. The emergency lights kicked right in. Jon sidled up to the corner of the hallway and used the reflection in metal cabinet across the way to check for hostiles.

He'd need a weapon first thing. Jon headed down the hall and went for cover as an explosion sounded. Small, well controlled. He'd bet on C-4. Jon peeked out into the main hall and saw the little kids backing away from the advancing hostiles.

Trained, armed with what looked like tranquilizers. There were a couple with canisters. Jon wished he had shoes on for this. Fighting barefoot against combat boots was going to suck.

"Hey!" Jon blinked as the whole group of hostiles turned towards him. He'd expected them to split up. Well, shit. He dodged a tranq dart and flipped off the rat bastards as one of the little girls launched herself at one of the hostiles.

Jon ran forward and grabbed her as the guy she's stuffed a crayon up the nose of went down with a howl of rage. Jon kicked him in the temple and that laid him out. The girl grabbed a food tray as Jon retreated back around the corner and she used it to deflect several darts on the way.

He sat her down beside him. "Okay?"

She smiled up at him. "Yes." She leaned out around him to assess the room. "They came during the day. That's stupid."

He'd just been thinking about how stupid a tactic that was. "Yeah, stupid." He narrowed his eyes at the girl. "I'm Jon."

She watched the man chase some of the kids towards them. "Hanna." She used the edge of the metal food tray she'd grabbed to stab a hostile in the ankle as he started to rush by after a couple of the kids. He ended up on the floor beside them and Jon wasted no time in putting an elbow into the guy's throat.

He started stripping the guy of useful weapons. "Think you can get the kids into the air vents? It'll be hard for them to reach you in there."

She nodded. "I can do that." She took a deep breath and then, suddenly, it was like she just _changed_. The scared little girl tremble disappeared and she straightened up, holding the food tray like a shield. She looked up at him. "Don't get taken."

He raised his eyebrow. "You be careful, Hanna." Jon double checked the tranq gun and started targeting the hostiles. The kids disappeared in droves and soon it was just Jon and the last two hostiles playing cat and mouse around the ward.

Stupid hospitals with their circular mazes for hallways. Jon finally got the drop on the next-to-last goon and hurried back down the hall at the sound of shouting. He hit the last goon as a canister came back out of the vent, hissing. Jon hurriedly backed away as the hostile panicked, tripping over his own feet trying to get away from the expanding cloud of smoke.

Jon tranqued him again, watching warily as the guy finally dropped. Jon leaned in close to the vent. "Stay here. Anyone but me you attack, okay, Hanna? You are doing a good job."

"Okay." Hanna's eyes were huge over the edge of her little shield. "You know lots of ways to kill people."

"Yeah. I was Special Ops before I ended up...younger." Jon pulled the boots off of the skinniest guy and slipped his socked feet into them. Quick lacing, with the extra length of shoe lace wrapped around his ankle and out of the way, Jon hurried back towards his ward.

He started up the stairs and heard a commotion on level two. Jon slapped the keycard on the panel and peeked out into the hallway. There were more hostiles, but a bunch of nurses were throwing scalpels at them. It seemed to be holding the bastards at bay. Jon could see at least one nurse down, tranq sticking out of a shoulder.

Jon sighted carefully and used his last two tranqs to take down the leader and the strongest hostile. Then, Jon left them to see if his ward was okay.

* * *

Coulson mentally sighed as he surveyed the damage. He checked the headcount and was pleased none of the children were missing. The older ward had been missing a male through most of the attack, but he'd reappeared with an empty tranquilizer gun and a pair of combat boots.

Coulson eyed the unconscious attacker with missing boots for a moment before heading for the ward with the now-not-missing male.

One of the nurses blinked as she looked him up and down.

"Suits bother the children."

She nodded and nudged a pair of combat boots on the counter towards him. "The kid talked for the first and only time. He's back to being silent, but he's the reason I called down to check with Katie before it occurred to me he couldn't have seen Katie's ward since they are directly below us."

Nodding, Coulson took the empty tranq gun from inside the left boot and tucked it away into an evidence bag. Her calling her counterpart had given the ward with the youngest children just enough time to arm themselves. "The boy?"

She pointed down the ward. "He's back in his room. Huddled in a corner, not talking or moving. It is the fourth door on the left."

"Thank you, ma'am." Coulson avoided wandering kids as he went down the hallway. He stopped in the doorway and watched the boy watching him for a while before he slid down the wall next to the door, making sure there was more than enough room to get past if the kid decided he needed out.

The kid uncurled and stared at him. Coulson leaned back against the wall.

"You took out quite a few of the attacking men on your own. The last time I had a conversation that started like this the man I was speaking to turned out to be a Norse god."

The kid blinked. "Thor?"

Coulson forced his expression to stay neutral. "Yes."

"I'm not a god." The kid shuddered violently and curled his arms around his knees. "They get the kids out of the wall okay? The nurses wouldn't let me back down there and I told Hanna to attack anything that wasn't me."

"She's fine. They are alright." Coulson looked around the room. "The nurses say you don't interact with the others."

"They are scared of me." The kid frowned. "You are in suit pants and a sweatshirt. Why?"

"Suit ties and jackets are not calming for anyone held by the Centre."

"Ah." The kid nodded. "The suits were usually nasty. I got a few of them in escape attempts. Snapped a neck on one." With a snort, the kid uncurled a little. "That was mostly luck. The tie, you know?"

Coulson did know. He wore clip on ties into possible combat situations. Not that he let anyone know that. "I know. I'm Agent Coulson."

"Jon." They shook hands and Jon blinked. "Agent?"

"Yes." Coulson explained how he was an agent with SHIELD and Jon rubbed his hair.

Clint appeared in the doorway. "Cap has a parasite attached to him in the form of a little girl. And Stark is busy corralling the Hulk." He looked at Jon. "Wow." He stared.

Coulson looked between Clint and Jon several times. "What is it, Barton?"

Clint crouched down and cocked his head. "You must give the little ones such headaches."

Jon blinked. "They either stare at me or start crying. I don't know why."

Coulson raised his eyebrows. "Have you heard of Pretenders?"

"They called me that once. No one has ever explained what they meant."

Clint waved a hand towards Jon. "I can _pretend_ you. Know what you know, in a way. You have far too much knowledge for your body's age. It is...creepy."

Jon snorted. "Well, going from old to new knees was...interesting."

Coulson blinked. "What?"

"I'm a clone. Only I wasn't supposed to be young." Jon shrugged. "I'm a bad copy."

Clint pulled on Coulson to get him upright. "What was your name before?"

Jon sighed and closed his eyes as he leaned back into his corner. "Colonel Jonathan "Jack" O'Neill, two L's, United States Air Force."

Coulson jerked. "SGC? You were SGC's O'Neill?"

Barton turned his head to stare at Coulson.

Jon straightened up. "You know what that is?"

"Stargate Command." Coulson shoved up his left sleeve until the staff blast scar showed. "I was assigned to SG-5 before SG-1 ended up in 1969. I was loaned out and injured during an ambush."

Clint made a face. "SG-5, SG-1?"

"Teams that do things for Stargate Command. Classified."

"Ah." Clint wrinkled his nose. "Don't mention time travel around Stark. That's all I ask, Coulson."

"Time travel sucks." Jon drummed his fingers on his knee. "Do you know how SG-1 is doing at all?"

Coulson pulled on the hem of his sweatshirt. "If you wouldn't mind watching over the children for a while longer, I'll find out for you."

"A phone would be nice too." Jon smiled. "Thanks."

* * *

Colonel Davis sat down next to Coulson and threw some breadcrumbs to the begging geese. "I thought you were happy with SHIELD?"

"I am." Coulson sighed. "We have a situation. When exactly did the Air Force lose track of the clone of O'Neill?"

Davis grimaced. "Somewhere between one alien attack and the next. You remember how it is."

"Sometimes I'd rather not remember." Coulson handed a folder to Davis. "I'm going to need to borrow War Machine in a few days."

Davis opened the file and read. "Fuck. That is a lot of clinics to take out in one night." He pulled a different file out of his bag and handed it to Coulson. "You know we're trying to consolidate the programs. I don't want to go back to square one on getting Rhodes into the SGC without worrying Mr. Stark."

"Think of it as a way to make Rhodes try out your program without having to transfer him straight in."

With a sigh, Davis threw the last of his bread to the geese. "Good work not letting New York become an alien playground."

"Same goes for you and Colorado Springs." Coulson stood and shook hands with Davis as he stood as well. "Always nice to see you, sir."

"Staff Sergeant." Davis smiled. "Agent, sorry."

Coulson waved it away. "Thank you for the file."

"My pleasure, Agent Coulson."

* * *

Colonel Davis, formerly Major and liaison for Stargate Command to the Pentagon, approached General O'Neill's cabin carefully. "Sir?"

"Around back." There was a pause. "You better have brought beer!"

Davis rolled his eyes and plastered on his best we-are-so-screwed expression. "Sir, I don't think this a good time for beer."

O'Neill looked up at him from the chair he was sitting in to fish. "Trust me, Davis. It is almost always a good time for a beer." He eyed Davis. "Wanna chair?"

He sat down and allowed the General a few more minutes to get his pole secured. "Sir, we found the clone of you."

"Good, good." O'Neill looked at him. "Dead? 'Cause years without any contact with Daniel is...worrying."

"No, sir." Davis handed over the file on the Centre that he'd gotten from Coulson. "He was held captive."

O'Neill blinked. "Seriously?"

"He attempted to escape several times from what little information about his captivity was retrieved."

"Yeah, that's not good." O'Neill eyed him. "You seen him?"

"Not in person." Davis took the file and opened it to the attempt on the children that had been made. "He kept the others safe, sir."

"Well, that sounds like him...Me." O'Neill made a disgusted face. "You know what I mean."

"Yes, sir." Davis turned the file back to the attack plan for the clinics that the Centre had controlled which the Avengers were going to take down. "They've asked to borrow War Machine."

O'Neill nodded. "Talk to the _Odyssey_ and see if we can have it in place in case they need the backup."

"Of course, sir." Davis mentally sighed. Getting the _Odyseey_ into the proper position in orbit wouldn't be the trouble. It was the possibility of having them actually need to help that was the headache. "Perhaps giving the Avengers clearance would save time, sir."

"I do not want to deal with Fury. That man is a spook." O'Neill looked up at him. "Besides, let's not give Stark any ideas, huh?"

"Super-soldier armor that flies is bad enough."

"I think Iron Man's armor is better than super-soldier armor now, isn't it? And it hasn't ever tried to kill me." O'Neill waved dismissively. "Nevermind, ask Carter if you really want to know." He cast out his fishing line. "Go away, Davis. I'm fishing."

"Yes, sir." Davis nudged the little cooler with the beer closer. "Have a good weekend, sir."


	26. Jarod meets Jack and Jon

Jon hid in his room when they moved the other wards in with his. No one bothered him. The kid assigned to his room wouldn't come in. It gave him too much time to stare in the mirror at the changes in himself. He remembered being this young..._younger_...whatever. He looked older than when he'd been cloned. Made. Jon sighed.

A knock on his door made Jon jump. He went and opened the door to find the big blond guy Steve had sketched standing just outside his room.

"Captain Rogers has informed me you know a person called Thor that is not myself."

Jon raised his eyebrows. "You are definitely taller."

Clint appeared from behind Thor. "Go in, Thor." Clint smiled at him and fended off a child that was clinging to Clint's leg.

Jon backed up until he was sitting on the bed and watched Thor look around before picking the other bed to sit on. Clint closed the door and sat on the chair between the beds.

"Jon, sorry to bother you, but Thor got excited when Steve told him about your other kind of Asgard."

"They are well?" Thor looked at him hopefully.

Jon blinked. "I don't know." He rubbed his hand through his hair. "I haven't seen them or talked to my Thor since I was cloned."

Thor nodded. "You have been held captive."

With a shrug, Jon leaned back against the headboard. "I can't really remember. Everything is fuzzy."

Clint nodded. "Only clear memories are pain or lots of light?"

"Yes." Jon narrowed his eyes at Clint. "Drugs?"

"They used to use a lot of stuff." Clint rubbed his hands on his thighs. "In the destruction a lot of data was lost, so we don't know exactly what they did to you."

Jon sighed. "That's not surprising."

Thor gestured towards the closed door. "You are not the only adult amongst the rescued."

"There's eight adults, counting me." Jon thumbed his eyebrow. "The rest don't talk at all."

Clint smiled slightly. "The Centre doesn't let go of Pretenders easily."

"I'm not a Pretender."

Thor leaned forward and set his forearms on his knees. "The Lady Hanna has told me of being a Pretender."

"Not pleasent."

"Indeed not." Thor looked at Jon. "You are a clone?"

"Yeah." Jon tapped his temple. "I've got all the memories of Old-Me from before getting copied." He pulled on his pant leg. "I just didn't age right. My Thor fixed the gonna-die-because-of-it-not-going-right problem and now I'm...well, Mini-Me according to the original."

Clint frowned at Thor.

Thor nodded. "I wish to express my despair on knowing you will outlive all those you once called friend."

Jon stared at him for a moment. "Thanks? I think." He tilted his head. "Is Rogers really the actual first Captain America?"

Clint nodded. "Yes."

"Uh." Jon clasped his hands over his stomach. "Coulson promised me a phone. You didn't happen to bring that with you did you?"

* * *

General Jack O'Neill ignored Daniel as he elbowed him in the ribs.

"Jack, why are you up here? And why did you tell _Odyssey_ to orbit instead of patrol once we got back?"

"Patience, Daniel. The show is about to start."

"Show? Will there be popcorn? I do like popcorn."

Daniel half-turned towards Dr. Jarod Gruber and smiled. "No, no. Jack's shows aren't always popcorn worthy."

Jack smiled at Daniel. "This one will be. The Avengers are going to blow up around about half the fertility clinics in the US tonight."

"What?" Daniel looked at the map on the main screen. "Wait...Who?"

"Oh, right." Jack slung an arm around Daniel. "You were on Atlantis and missed it. There was a near alien invasion of New York, but we didn't cause it. Or stop it." Jack leaned towards Jarod. "Daniel likes to cause invasions."

Daniel shoved on Jack's arm. "I do not." He grimaced and ducked his head. "Usually." He waved at the screen. "Fertility clinics?"

"Yeah-sure-you-bet-'ca." Jack pointed at Delaware. "There's this idiot place called the Centre...well, there was. They stole one of the Avengers and promptly got destroyed while the Avengers got back their teammate."

"Okay." Daniel looked at Jarod staring at the map for a moment before turning back to Jack. "And that relates how exactly?"

"I'm getting there, Daniel." Jack pointed across the map. "So the Centre was using fertility clinics to breed these genius kids called Pretenders...And, I should probably mention they had Mini-Me."

Jarod rasied his eyebrows. "Mini...Me?"

Daniel sighed. "Jack got cloned once. The clone didn't age right and was about fifteen. That was in 2003." Daniel frowned. "He'd be, what, about 24 now, right?"

Jack shrugged. "About. He's still got my brain. The hospital that is treating the rescued kids was attacked. Jon helped stop them."

"And the Avengers are just destroying all this property because they are still upset about their teammate?" Daniel pointed at the map. "All in one night?"

Jarod looked at the map. "They must have a very good means of transport."

Jack stage whispered to Daniel. "What's he do again?"

Daniel smiled. "Jarod knows almost as many languages as me. He picked up Ancient in about five hours."

Jarod turned away from the map. "It was harder than I expected since it is so closely related to Latin that I kept having trouble remembering to use the Ancient version of the word."

Daniel beamed. "He could speak it better the first day than I did after two weeks."

"Ah." Jack looked at Jarod. "What did you think of Atlantis, Doctor?"

Jarod smiled, a dimple appearing in one cheek. "Magnificent."

Jack nodded and then stabbed his finger at the map. "Did War Machine just buzz a bunch of drunk people?"

Daniel leaned in to read the map's information field. "Uh, looks like it."

"Oh, Davis is going to hear about that."

* * *

Colonel Davis lead Dr. Jarod Gruber down the hallway. "I'm really not sure this is a good idea, sir. These children don't act normally and it can be quite disturbing."

"I'll be fine." Jarod smiled at him and stepped past the nurses' station. "I'll only be a few minutes."

Jarod looked around at the children and he wished for a moment he could tear the Centre apart as the Avengers had done. He'd known there were other Pretenders. He'd almost escaped with a couple of others, he'd seen the footage of Mrs. Parker's mother trying to get the children out, but he'd not realized there were quite so many.

One of the little children blinked and then smiled at him.

Jarod smiled back and moved through the crowd. He was looking for the 'Mini-Me' that Dr. Jackson and General O'Neill had spoke of. He wanted to see why the Centre had stolen a clone when they could already make them.

He found a closed door at the end of the ward and gently knocked before opening it.

The man inside was young, but...not. Oh. Not at all. That would terrify the younger Pretenders. Jarod stood in the doorway.

* * *

Jon looked up as a knock sounded. "Yeah?"

The door came open and a clean cut looking guy stood in the doorway looking at him. Then the guy broke into a huge grin.

"You are very complex."

Jon made a face. "What?"

The guy shook himself. "Sorry." He came in and extended a hand to shake. "I'm Jarod."

Jon shook and then tightened his hold on Jarod's hand. "_The_ Jarod? The one Clint came by this morning and lamented to me they hadn't found yet? The one with a bunch of half-siblings? That Jarod?"

Jarod cocked his head. "Yes? Who is Clint?"

Jon pulled Jarod off balance and then grinned as Jarod immediately countered the move. "He's an Avenger."

"Oh." Jarod sat down on the edge of the bed by the door. "Is he the one they were rescuing when the Avengers destroyed the Centre?"

"Think so, yeah." Jon flopped down on the other bed. "Shouldn't you be hiding?"

Jarod smiled. "I was. On Atlantis, the lost City of the Ancients."

"Uh." Jon nodded. "Daniel must have figured out the location."

"He found an eighth symbol."

"Eight?" Jon frowned. "Wait...that means it was another galaxy."

Jarod looked surprised.

"What? You're a Pretender. You know Old-Me has a brain in his head."

"I know he finds it amusing when people think he is less intelligent than he appears."

Jon snorted. "Yeah. That is always fun." Jon waved at Jarod. "Why all the way out there? You could have just gone around Milky Way. Seven digit dials are far easier to power."

Jarod sighed. "I wanted to get as far away from the Centre as I could. My being alive puts all my family at risk."

"Not so much now, though."

"No." Jarod stood up. "I need to find my family." He stuck out his hand. "Thank you for saving the world, Jack."

Jon beamed as he shook hands with Jarod.


	27. Fates, Time, and Fishsticks

Tony sat down next to the Air Force general that Clint had assured him was really important right now. After hacking the reports from the night they'd destroyed the fertility clinics, Tony was inclined to agree that Jack O'Neill was important. "You didn't look too hard for your clone."

O'Neill grimaced and cast his line out. "No leads and right in the middle of a really bad alien invasion. What would you have done?"

"Stuck a tracker in him in the first place?"

With a snort, O'Neill sat down his pole and turned towards Tony. "Think I'd leave a tracker in? That he would have?"

Tony pursed his lips as he nodded. "Yeah, okay. I can see how that wouldn't have worked." Tony looked around the area. "You don't seem eager to get him back."

"What exactly would I do with him? He's...well, me. And I know just how much I gave up to keep alive doing what I did before they put me in charge of the whole planet's defense." O'Neill shrugged. "He'd feel too much out of place. That's why he didn't stay in the first place. He's going to outlive everyone I know. Think it through, Stark."

Tony thought about having a younger him running around trying to also be Iron Man. Then he winced at the thought of outliving the others. "Oh." He frowned. "I was thinking about offering him a position at the school I'm making for the children rescued from the Centre. Do you think he'd do it?"

O'Neill smiled. "Depends on what you want him to do."

Tony stood up. "We'll have to see. Don't think we'll just hand him over if your program's oversight committee decides to go against your recommendation."

O'Neill stood up as well. "I'll remind them you have a Hulk."

* * *

Hanna held onto her father's hand very tightly as they rode the elevator up to the combined ward of the hospital. Francis was on the other side of Clint with Bruce beside him.

"You won't forget me when it is time to go home, right?"

"No, Hanna." Clint swung her by her arm up and around to be grabbed by Bruce, who settled her on his hip. "Here, Bruce will carry you and then you don't have to worry."

Bruce smiled at her. "We would not forget you, Hanna."

Francis started to lead them out of the elevator when the people coming on made him freeze.

The man in the Air Force uniform stepped to one side out of their way. "Sorry."

The other man started to move until Clint grabbed his arm.

Hanna watched them stare at each other for a few seconds. "What's wrong?"

Her father swallowed. "Which one are you?"

The man flinched and tried to pull away. "I'm sorry. I don't know what you are talking about."

Then it occurred to Hanna why the man looked like Francis and father with his changing body language. "You're a Pretender."

Francis retreated behind Bruce and peeked out at the man. "You just lied."

The man closed his eyes and sighed as the Air Force man crowded closer.

"Dr. Gruber?"

"Jarod." The man opened his eyes and turned towards the Air Force man. "I'm sorry."

Hanna leaned away from Bruce towards Jarod with her arms outstretched. "We couldn't find you and it was upsetting JARVIS. And Tony will be happy we found you because Bruce won't have be so sad now."

"What?" Jarod caught her as Bruce's arm went slack. "What are you talking about?"

Clint herded them out of the elevator and past the nurses' station into a small breakroom. "Hanna, don't squeeze too hard."

Hanna let up on her hug a little, but made sure her hands were tangled in Jarod's shirt. She wasn't going to let Bruce lose Jarod now.

She smiled as Jarod absently stroked her back as Jarod listened to her father explain about hiding in SHIELD and being taken by the Centre. She could feel Jarod tense as father talked about finding out about Francis and deciding to destroy the clinics after Tony had started stripping the Centre's supporters of their money.

Jarod turned a little to stare at Bruce when Clint got to the part where they found out about Bruce being related to Jarod.

Hanna broke in then before Bruce could say something awful about the Hulk. "And I used to have to do sims against your old finish times. I always lost."

Jarod started and looked down at her. "I am sorry, Hanna."

She smiled up at him. "That's okay. You are nice and you wouldn't have made me if you'd been in charge." She turned her head and looked at Bruce. "Bruce was an only child, but now, when we find the rest of your family he'll have lots of siblings."

Jarod took a shaky breath. "That might not be as simple as you want, Hanna." Jarod looked at the others. "I haven't found most of my family."

Hanna looked at her father. "Does finding Jarod mean we aren't picking up Jon like Tony wanted us to?"

Clint smiled at her and patted her on the shoulder as he went by. "I'll get him. Jarod can explain to the nice Colonel how he got past whatever security and background checks they did while you all wait."

* * *

Jon sat down on the fluffy couch and silently laughed as the Avengers and Coulson gave Jarod the third degree. Captain America came to sit down next to him.

"Are you alright with this? You don't have to stay here, Jon."

Jon smiled. "I'm fine." He laughed. "Still haven't gotten a phone call."

"Oh." Steve fished around in a pocket. "Here. It makes calls."

Jon took the cellphone and dialed a number that had better not have changed. "Hey, Old Me." He looked at Steve. "No, I'm good here. You need to get Mom on a plane to New York though. No, really. That Captain America they've got? He _is_ Steve Rogers." Jon nodded. "Yeah, yeah, he still owes Mom that dance."

Several heads snapped around to stare at Jon.

Jon smiled wider. "Well, it isn't like anyone would have told him. Sheltered to death, probably. Plus, Mom did say she was never speaking to Fury again. Or she'd shoot him, wasn't it?" Jon nodded. "I'll ask Stark to send a car around to pick her up. Thanks...No, I'm fine." Jon snorted. "No, not like Daniel-fine." He shook his head. "I couldn't. Yeah? How bad?" Jon blinked. "Oh. Wait, you need to tell their Thor that. Hold on." Jon held the phone out towards Thor.

Thor shook his head. "I can not."

Stark took the phone. "Hey, sorry, Thor fries phones. What were you needing him to know?" Stark grimaced. "Wow. Yeah, that's...Are there any left?"

Thor straightened up.

Tony glanced at him and then looked at Jon. "Uh huh...No, I think he'll be okay." Tony snapped the phone shut. "Thor, uh, the other Asgard blew themselves up. They were stopping some really nasty aliens from getting to Earth."

Thor smiled wide and clapped his hands. "We must drink to their courage."

Jon leaned over towards Steve. "Is he sane?"

Steve made a face as he took his phone from Tony. "Sometimes I'm not quite sure."

* * *

Bruce couldn't help it. He kept staring at Jarod. Real and _right there_. Tony sat down next to him and stole a couple of his fishsticks.

"You okay?"

Bruce nodded. "I'm fine."

Across the table, Jon pointed a fishstick at him. "That sounds like Daniel-fine to me."

Hanna bounced her bouncy ball and then tucked it into her shirt. "What's Daniel-fine mean?"

Jon smiled softly. "I had this friend named Daniel. He always said he was fine. Didn't matter what had just happened. He was always fine. Got shot, he's fine. Almost became a caveman, don't ask you don't want to know, still fine. Died and came back...Well, you get the idea. I don't believe Daniel-fine is actually fine." He pointed at Bruce.

Hanna leaned forward to look at Bruce. "Yeah." She turned towards Jarod on her other side. "You aren't either."

Jarod smiled at her. "Mostly I am."

Francis frowned as his fishstick broke in the tartar sauce. "Why is Thor not sad if these other Asgard are dead?"

Thor turned from the counter where he'd been getting himself coffee. "Ragnarok went well." He smiled at them. "The timelines have set properly and the darkness will not win the Nine Realms."

Bruce exchanged looks with Tony. Bruce leaned back so he could look down the table at Thor. "Are you saying you were expecting Jon's Thor to be dead?"

Thor nodded. "My people could not be allowed on Midgard until after your year 2008 for fear of upsetting the Ragnarok." Thor made a circle motion with his free hand. "The Asgard destruction gives life to the Asgard. The Realms are linked." He looked at them like they were stupid. "You do not know of Ragnarok?"

Natasha rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Not like that, Thor."

Jarod put down his fishstick. "I don't know what that is."

Thor thumped Jarod on the shoulder as he went past him to sit next to Coulson. "It is a great story."

Bruce watched Jon as Thor explained how his people existed because of the Asgard having blown themselves up and let their legacy with the Legendary O'Neill, which Jon snorted at. And how many centuries after that there was a time travel event involving the person guarding the legacy who then planted the Yggdrasil which in turn nurtured the Nine Realms and allowed the Asgard that were Thor's people to exist.

Jon frowned and scratched his eyebrow with his thumb. "So, you're saying that my Thor died and because he did, you exist?"

Thor smiled. "Indeed. Is time travel not great?"

Jon about choked on his beer.

* * *

Hanna approached Jarod carefully. He looked absorbed in the maps and the searches happening on the screens in front of him. "You won't hurt Bruce, will you?"

Jarod started and turned to look down at her. "No, Hanna. I will not hurt Bruce."

She clambered up onto the stool beside him. "Want to see the neat thing Bruce can do?"

"Yes. I'd like that." Jarod switched a screen to blank in front of her and Hanna reached for the screen.

* * *

Jon turned his head to stare at Stark. "Seriously?"

Stark made a face as he waved his hand around. "It isn't very good, I know..."

Jon smacked him on the arm. "Shut up." He looked around the huge room again. "Why are you careful to not get out of my line of sight?"

Stark grinned slightly. "You know Agent Coulson will strain muscles stopping himself from attacking if you come up from behind him and startle him because you turn out to be too quiet at the wrong time?" Stark lifted his chin. "You are wound too tight."

"I'm not going to break."

"Yeah, well, I didn't say you were." Stark pointed at the ceiling. "JARVIS is good about telling you the date and your location if you need it." He waved a hand at the door as he turned towards it. "The door will lock for you, only I can override it, but it'll give you an alarm if I do, okay?" He looked at Jon. "Once you've decided we aren't in the middle of a warzone I've got a job opening to discuss with you."

Jon stared at the closed door for a few minutes after Stark left. "What's a JARVIS?"

"I am, sir."

Jon jumped and looked up at the speaker the voice had come from. "Computer?"

"Artificial Intelligence."

"Ah." Jon blinked. "Oooookay." He looked around the room and then back at the ceiling. "What did Stark mean about you being good at telling a person the date and location?"

"During a panic attack, flashback, or upon waking from a nightmare it is often helpful to give the date and location. Occasionally, the weather forecast as well."

"Uh." Jon nodded. "Yeah, that'll be...helpful. Is there a layout of this building I can look at?"

"Of course, sir."

Jon felt better after working out routes around the building. He flopped down on the couch and wallowed a bit in the cushions. "JARVIS, is it possible to get the _Simpsons_?"

"Which season would you like to start with?" A screen across from Jon came to life.

"Sweet."


	28. Did someone say Dancing?

Peggy huffed as her doorbell rang. She opened the door to find her boy standing there with another man. She narrowed her eyes at what looked like a dead man. "Jonathan?"

Jack smiled and hugged her. "Hi, Mom." He backed off and gestured to the younger man with him. "This is my friend, Dr. Daniel Jackson."

She raised her eyebrows. "The Dr. Jackson that's dead? With, what is it now, three or four obituaries?"

Jack grimaced as he came in as she moved aside to give them room. Dr. Jackson looked sheepish.

"Yeah, uhm. Mom..."

Peggy followed them into the kitchen and watched as Jack laid out papers all over her nice clean table. "Don't 'Mom' me, Jonathan. What is going on?"

Jack held a pen out to her. "You need to sign the non-disclosure forms first."

She took the pen and looked down at the nearest form. Then she barely kept herself from throwing the pen at her son's head. "No."

"Mom."

"No. Jonathan, I have told you before I'm never speaking to Director Fury again. Unless it involves shooting him, I have no interest." She'd seen the news where they'd gotten someone to take up Steve's role. They'd even replicated his shield. And she wasn't going to get anywhere near any of it. The rat bastards.

"Uhm, Mom...I can't tell you until you sign, but you really, really want to sign."

Peggy could see Dr. Jackson cross and uncross his arms from the corner of her eye. She sat down and sorted through the piles of forms. Several from the Army, loads of Air Force, an international one, SHIELD, the DOD, two from Russia...She looked up at her boy standing there, earnestly looking back at her.

"Really, Mom. I promise there is no talking to Fury involved."

She poked a pile with her fingertip. "Well, if I don't have to speak to that rat bastard...I suppose..." She worked her way through the various forms. Carefully reading everything before signing her name to each one. She sat back and pushed the last form away from herself. "Well?"

Jack smiled his pretty smile and tugged on her arm like he used to do when he got really excited. "You'll love it. It's a surprise. Oh, and I've saved the world with Daniel more times than I remembered to count."

Dr. Jackson smacked Jack in the shoulder. "Jack."

Jack smiled. "Daniel."

"Jack."

She stood up and gathered the forms up into a single pile. She could torture them for stories later. "Where exactly are we going, Jonathan?"

Her boy smiled wide. "New York City." He pulled her in to stand between him and Dr. Jackson. "We're taking the express route."

* * *

Jarod sat down across from Bruce. "You have a nice workspace."

Bruce glanced up and then back down to his screen. "Ah, thanks, Tony can be very generous."

With a nod, Jarod pulled a screen Bruce wasn't using closer to himself. "How much gamma radiation were you exposed to?"

"What?" Bruce's head snapped up and he stared at Jarod.

"Hanna showed me footage of what she call the neat thing you can do." Jarod sketched several equations onto the screen.

Bruce closed his eyes. "She did."

Jarod smiled. "It is very neat. The ability to grow in mass and then shrink back down without affecting your equilibrium to the point you would be unable to stand up is astounding."

Bruce rubbed the bridge of his nose and opened his eyes. "Seriously?" He blinked. "You are...Neat?"

Jarod nodded and his smile became more confused looking. "Of course. Should I have not said anything?"

"No." Bruce rubbed his hand through his hair. "Uh, no, no. I'm just not exactly used to anyone starting a conversation about the other guy like that."

"It is quite interesting."

"Uh, yeah." Bruce sat back and just marveled as Jarod went into how the transformation affected, well, everything.

* * *

Peggy let go of her son's arm as they materialized in what looked like Tony Stark's living room. She tried not to think about whether the transporter worked like those in _Star Trek_ or not. "Jonathan."

"You okay, Mom?"

She stepped towards the windows showing her the skyline of _New York_. "Of course, Jonathan." She turned as an elevator across from the windows opened up. From it came several people, Stark, who she recognized, strode right over to Jack and got in his face.

"You can't call? Knock? Something? JARVIS about had a heart attack."

Jack rolled his eyes. "JARVIS can't have a heart attack, Stark."

Stark shrugged and turned towards her. "Wow, you look great, Auntie."

"You look good. All grown up." Peggy smiled at him and then tried not to act too surprised when he _hugged_ her. She held the side of his face for a moment before she let him back away. She'd not seen Tony in so very long. "Jonathan seems to think I needed to be here for some reason."

Tony looked at Jack like he'd never seen him before. "You haven't _told_ her?"

Jack shrugged. "Haven't gotten around to mentioning my clone yet either."

She turned and glared at her boy. "Your what?"

Jack made a face and waved a hand in a what-can-you-do motion. "I, uh, might have gotten kidnapped by an alien and he made a clone to replace me, but it didn't age right and the clone is about the age Charlie would have been if he'd lived."

She closed her eyes, took a breath, and opened them to a Steve look-alike standing in the doorway of the elevator staring at her. "And I suppose the alien managed to clone _him_, too?"

The look-alike grinned. "No, ma'am. I just got frozen in the Arctic and missed a date to go dancing with my girl."

She blinked, looked at Jack, who was grinning, then at Tony, who was just starting to smile, and then back to...Steve. Actually, Steve. Standing right there, alive..._Alive_! Peggy moved over to stand in front of him and put her hands on her hips. "And who said I was _your_ girl?"

He was tearing up. "Uhm...Well..."

She smacked him on the arm. "You still don't know how to talk to a girl." She wrapped him in a hug as he started to laugh. He picked her clear up off her feet, which wasn't going to make her back happy, but she didn't care. Not in the least. "Have you learned how to dance?"

Steve huffed a laugh into her hair. "No. I was waiting for the right partner."

* * *

Hanna climbed up beside the nice lady that was Jon's Mom, who was reading reports on a tablet Tony had given her. "Hi."

She smiled prettily. "Hello, I'm Peggy."

Hanna gestured at Francis standing in front of them. "That's Francis. I'm Hanna."

Peggy glanced at Francis and then back at her. "And, Francis is a clone of Agent Barton, is that correct?"

Francis smiled. "Yes, but I don't like heights and Clint does."

Hanna nodded. "You're Jon's Mom."

Peggy cocked her head. "Well, yes, I suppose I am."

Francis crawled up onto the couch with them. "General Jack said Jon's almost Charlie's age. Who's Charlie?"

With a sad smile, Peggy told them about her wonderful grandson and how he died accidentally when he was ten. Peggy then asked them about Steve and Hanna got to tell her about trying to make Steve and Tony be friends.

"Maybe you could help."

Peggy smiled. "Yes, I think I can help with that."

* * *

Darcy flopped down next to the young hunk with the arms. "Hi. I'm Darcy."

The guy stared at her for a moment before jerking his chin at the screen on the wall. "You like the _Simpsons_?"

She shrugged. "They're okay."

He smiled. "I'm Jon."

"You a friend of Thor's?"

Jon poked at her ipod. "Sort of. What do you listen to?"

She grinned and started rattling off all the music she had loaded up after Tony gave her iTunes gift cards to quit singing in his kitchen.

* * *

Clint watched Jarod charm Bruce into not being nervous for a while before crawling down the ducts until he could drop down into Betty's lab. "Ma'am."

She smiled at him. "Agent Barton."

He hoisted himself up onto a countertop that looked non-dangerous at the moment. "What are you working on?"

She smiled and turned the screen in front of her more towards him. "Just eavesdropping, actually."

He watched as Cap hugged the crap out of an older lady. Pretty gray hair with a commanding air about her. "Wow, nice."

Betty nodded and shifted so they could watch together. "I think she's like I am for Bruce only she's for Steve." Betty leaned against his shoulder for a moment. "Thank you for accepting Bruce and not handing him over to my father."

Clint looked over the top of Betty's head to the plush Hulk toy on her desk. "No problem." He motioned towards the toy. "Has he seen it yet?"

Betty giggled. "It was great." She split the screen and pulled up a video file. "JARVIS recorded it for me." She hit play.

Clint laughed as Bruce stared and then looked at Betty. Then, Bruce shook his head and started to smile. "I like it when he really smiles."

Betty flicked the file closed. "I miss his smile so much. He hardly smiles in a true way anymore. I've seen him happier here than I have since it happened."

Clint nodded. He knew what she meant. "He has been nice to me. And I want you to know if anyone ever manages to hold him against his will, it'll only be because I'm already dead."

Betty ducked her head a little and then she smiled at him. "Thank you." She pulled him into a hug for a moment. "Let's go get him and see if we can convince Tony to buy out a nice place to go dancing."

Clint hopped down off his counter. "For Steve, of course."

Betty laughed. "Sure. We'll go with that. I'm certain it'll convince Tony."

Clint followed her. "Well, we could just make it Hanna's idea. Tony's just as wrapped around her little finger as the rest of us."

Betty giggled as they left her lab.


	29. Prelude to a Dance

Jon settled next to Peggy as she read through another report. "I'm sorry we couldn't get clearance to tell you when it happened...when I was...made."

She sat the tablet down and pulled her son into a hug. She didn't care that it was just a copy of his mind stuck in a younger body, this was _her_ boy too. "Hush."

Jon buried his face in her shoulder and just breathed.

* * *

Tony threw down the wrench he'd been about to use as Bruce came into his workshop. He pushed his goggles up onto his forehead and watched Bruce check for Francis before taking a seat.

Bruce clasped his hands together over his stomach. "You okay, Tony?"

"Hmm." Tony flicked his schematics around and squinted at the wire layout. "Okay with what?"

"You didn't exactly plan for the extra people that have more or less invaded."

"It doesn't matter. I've got plenty of room." Tony glanced over at Bruce and frowned. "What's with you? You've got that frowny line in between your eyes. That never bodes well for the floors or the walls...You mad at me, Bruce-y?"

Bruce rolled his eyes and leaned back in his chair. "I don't have frown lines."

"Sure, you didn't smash the crap out of Loki either."

"That wasn't m...Nevermind." Bruce sighed. "Jarod is...extremely odd."

Tony made a face. "And this surprises you how?" Tony cocked his head. "Wait...how odd are we talking?"

"He thinks the other guy is interesting. He was asking questions about mass conversion and how the gamma radiation binds to my blood." Bruce rubbed his hand across his mouth. "He was cheerful the whole time."

"Cheerful equals odd in your world?"

"No. Tony." Bruce stood and paced towards the nearby wall and back to Tony's desk. "Jarod said his full brother, Kyle, died to save him. He was sad for about three seconds and then he told me how much Kyle would have liked to have known about me."

"Ah." Tony stepped in beside Bruce and steered him towards the table for planning projects. "Here, take a look at the upgrade I'm working on for Natasha and tell me if you think she'll rag me for making her weapons."

Bruce watched Tony explode the weapon plans into the component details. "You think she'll tease you for making her a weapon?"

Tony turned the plans and shoved them towards Bruce. "I honestly don't have a clue. Not the point, though."

"Really?"

With a grin, Tony cocked his head and pointed at Bruce with a nearby screwdriver. "Really. You need to quit being scared."

Bruce blinked. "What?" He moved a joint separation over a couple of millimeters so it wouldn't be right on the knob of wrist bone when Natasha wore it. "I'm not scared."

"Yes, you are." Tony peered at the change and nodded, making the mirror change to the other wrist's plan. "You are scared shitless because he's not only your brother, but he doesn't despise you for anything."

"I don't think Jarod could despise someone."

Tony gave him an exasperated look. "Ask him about the Centre and then stand back and you'll see despise up close and personal."

"You talked to him?" Bruce turned the plan over and started checking the way the band would sit on the body.

"We talked about the rest of your shared family. There's a clone of him, you remember Clint saying something about that, right? Well, it turns out he's about the age of Jon now. They should get along. The younger one is getting called Jay, which is just stupid." Tony made a face at Bruce's raised eyebrows. "It's a lot of J names. That's all I'm saying. Lots. Do you know that the clone was being raised by an evil old geezer with a horrible smoking habit?"

Bruce wrinkled his nose at the sudden mental image of a balding man with a oxygen tank and a cigarette. "What does that have to do with...Nevermind." Bruce flicked the plan to Tony. "You're to the point of needing Natasha to try them."

"Yeah." Tony turned away from the table. "JARVIS, save the plans and close it down."

"The plans have been saved to your private sever, sir. Also, Miss Potts has asked me to remind you that the Congressional meeting on Dr. Banner's status in relation to the Army is tomorrow."

Tony clapped his hands together. "Right, totally forgot about that." He looked at Bruce. "You can't come." Tony flapped his hand at Bruce as he walked towards the door. "They would arrest you before we could get anything decided and then there'd be bad press when the rest of the team and I defied them and broke you out."

"Tony."

"Not to mention that I think they'd probably try to strip me of the Iron Man suit if I were to put it on in Congress and blast...Well, no, given the current approval ratings I might get a medal..."

"Tony."

Tony turned and blinked at Bruce. "What?"

"I don't want to go anyway."

Tony frowned. "Oh." He pressed the call button for the elevator. "Why not?"

"They're going to decide to give me to the Army, Tony. I might as well enjoy the last days I have free here with Betty and everyone in the Tower."

Tony's expression hardened. "Right." He strode into the elevator and turned with his for the press grin firmly in place. "We'll just have to see about that."

* * *

Coulson frowned and passed the pile of papers to Pepper. "I don't think we are going to win this one."

"Well, not having you for counter petitions just after the battle did gum things up some." Pepper adjusted her seat as Francis climbed up into her lap. "And, hello, to you too, Francis."

"Are we going to give Bruce to the Army? He thinks we are and we shouldn't. He belongs here."

Phil frowned slightly. "Francis, where did you hear that?"

Francis shrugged and ducked his head. "Uhm..."

Pepper brushed his hair of his forehead. "Nevermind that, Francis." She looked at Phil over Francis' head. "We're working on getting Bruce cleared of some charges that the Army have against him because of the Hulk."

Phil looked Francis in the eye. "The Army thinks they own the Hulk, which means Bruce as well."

Francis frowned and slid down from Pepper's lap. "This Congressional, they decide who gets Bruce?"

Phil nodded. "The Congressional meeting will decide the issue, yes."

"Okay." Francis nodded and ran out of the room.

Pepper watched him go. "That didn't sound ominous at all."

* * *

Jon stared at the little grim faces staring back up at him. "And what do you think I can do?"

Hanna climbed up beside him on the couch. "You're old enough to have an idea about how to convince the Congressional people that Bruce should stay here."

"Congress, just say Congress." Jon looked at Francis, who was staring back at him. "Are they just deciding whether to order the Army to dismiss the charges against him, or are they making a recommendation on Bruce's custody?"

"Personhood status, custody, and charges." Francis scrambled up beside Hanna. "That's all I got read of the papers Phil and Pepper were filling out."

Jon rubbed his cheek. "Well, alright. Do we know how many people the Hulk has killed?"

"Unprovoked or when provoked, Jon?"

They all started and glanced up at the ceiling.

"You have stats, JARVIS?"

"Indeed. Would you like them ranked by severity or probability they were the direct result of upsetting the Hulk?"

Jon grinned. "Okay. Let's start with the direct results list."

* * *

Natasha settled across the table from Jarod. "You seem calm about all of this."

Jarod smiled at her. "I have more living family. I'm extremely happy." He cocked his head. "I will do my best to not hurt anyone here. I know how much Barton means to you."

With a nod, Natasha leaned back a minute amount in her chair."You aren't in very many of the videos we got from the Centre when we took it apart to get Clint back."

"No, I wouldn't be." Jarod touched the table between them and pulled up the list of footage they had. "You got the main server, but not before I did." He took a thumbnail drive out of his pocket. "I stole money and data from the Centre shortly after I escaped. I'd been planning a while by then. I even tried to get out some of the others." He sat the drive down on the interface plate. "Stark's IA can pull the data off of this."

They waited while JARVIS uploaded and slotted the new data files in with the rest.

Natasha stared at the screen. "Is there anyone that was nice to you?"

"The man that usually had control over me, Sydney. He was nice to me."

She nodded. "Clint didn't have that."

"Neither did my brother, Kyle. He was trained by Raines and wasn't completely sane as an adult."

Natasha pulled up a new file and they watched a young Jarod talk about snowflakes to a dark haired girl. "Who's the little girl?"

"That's Miss Parker. She's...They ordered her to chase me after I escaped." He smiled softly. "She shot at me."

Natasha got up and moved to the tea pot. "She wasn't amongst the adults we rounded up."

Jarod nodded and closed the video file. "Neither was Sydney or Mr. Broots from the list Stark gave me to look over."

"You've seen video of what Bruce does that makes him an Avenger?" She sat a cup in front of each of them as she sat back down.

Jarod pulled up a different video file. "Hanna wanted me to see the neat thing she said he could do. So..." He smiled widely. "Yes, it is very neat."

"You are crazy." Natasha put her chin in her hands. "The Hulk is anything but neat."

"It just depends on how you look at it." Jarod opened a shaky amateur video of the Hulk punching the large flying monster-thing. "Most people see something to fear when he does this. I see someone protecting himself. Bruce was dosed with enough gamma to kill him several times over. Instead he got an ability that's taken him some time to control. To learn how to use it to protect others."

She blinked at the file as the Hulk punched another invader. "He's better at control than when he started out."

"Of course he is. Give him some practice time were the Hulk isn't required to run away from being shot at and see what he can really do."

She smiled with one corner of her mouth. "Thank you, Dr. Gerber."

"Are you done getting a soundbite for the Congressional meeting I'm supposed to not attend tomorrow?"

She grinned. "You knew."

He shrugged. "You are very good, if that helps."

"You believed what you were saying about Bruce?"

"Yes." Jarod nodded at her. "You did about what you were saying, didn't you?"

"He got hunted like a rabid dog just after his accident." She took a sip of her tea. "He didn't have time to learn anything useful about his condition."

"And if General Ross had not feared him so much, do you think that the invasion would have been stopped as it was?"

She blinked. "Bruce would be..."

"I would be what?" Bruce pushed his glasses back up on his nose as Natasha stood up from the table.

"Nothing." Natasha gave him a quick hug and left with Bruce staring after her.

Bruce turned to Jarod. "Do you know what just happened?"

"Not really." Jarod got up to help Bruce make dinner. "Has Stark decided where he's taking everyone to go dancing tomorrow night?"

"I didn't pay attention. I'm probably going to be busy anyway."

Jarod smiled at Hanna peeking at them from around the doorjamb. "We'll just have to see how busy you end up being. I'm sure Hanna wants to learn to dance."

She smiled back and disappeared out of the kitchen.


	30. Dancing with Words

Bruce tried to not worry, but it was very hard as he watched Betty follow Tony into the elevator. Hanna leaned into his side as the elevator doors closed. "Thanks, Hanna."

She patted him on the hand. "Jon says that you shouldn't worry."

He smiled down at her. "I'm sure he is trying to help."

Darcy dropped into a chair across from them. "So, no going to the boring meeting for you?"

Bruce raised an eyebrow at her. "No, and you know why. What's going on? You usually avoid me."

Darcy smiled. "Thor asked Jane a question that I wondered if anyone had asked you. I'm thinking probably not."

Bruce tilted his head. "What's the question?"

"Has anyone asked Hulk his opinion about what to do with him?"

"What?" Bruce blinked, looked down at Hanna's wide eyes, and then to Darcy with her head cocked. "When do you think there was ever time to _ask_ him anything?"

Darcy nodded. "Yeah, I suppose running from gunfire to protect the innocent has taken up most of his time."

Bruce rubbed his face, pinched the bridge of his nose, and tried not to feel cornered. "He was trying to protect the soldiers too. He..." Bruce swallowed. "He doesn't like killing."

Darcy looked beyond him and Bruce turned to see Steve standing behind him. Hanna squirmed and leaned over the back of the couch.

"Did you get that?" Hanna turned to smile at Bruce even as Francis stood up.

"Yes." He looked up at Bruce. "You wouldn't have said if you thought we were going to send it to Tony to use on the Congress people."

"Congressional people." Bruce leaned his head against the couch and listened to Steve pick up his shield from near the wall. "They are going to give me to Ross. We all know that and arguing is just a waste of time."

Steve looked down at him with the shield on his arm. "Jon was right. And I'd like to apologize in advance."

Bruce blinked and started to ask what Steve was apologizing about. Hanna scrambled over the back of the couch and in the next second all Bruce knew was shock.

* * *

Jon stared at the Hulk glaring at Darcy where she was huddled behind Steve and his shield.

The Hulk huffed and flared his nose as he drew a huge breathe. "Not nice."

Steve nodded and edged Darcy further back. "We know and we're sorry, but Bruce is very protective of you."

Hulk blinked, shook his head, and turned towards the mess of the couch he'd been sitting on. "Puny Bruce, stupid."

Hanna moved from Jon's hold and waved at the Hulk. "Hi. I'm Hanna. When you are Bruce you carry me around. Will you still carry me now?" She held her arms up and out.

Hulk reached for her and Jon could see Steve tense up. Hanna giggled as Hulk picked her up in his palm.

"Tiny Girl."

Hanna nodded. "Yes. Would you answer questions to help keep General Ross from getting Bruce? I don't want him to get Bruce or you."

Hulk looked at her and then up at the rest of them. "Hulk protect Puny Bruce."

Hanna flung herself around as much of his wrist as she could reach as Francis ran over and wrapped himself around the Hulk's ankle. "Thank you, Hulk."

* * *

Coulson wouldn't admit it upon pain of death, but he was proud of Stark and the picture he was painting for the Committee. Between Tony, the public support evident in the gallery, and the various interviews that had been put forth, Coulson was starting to think they might get a favorable outcome.

Then Jarod walked in. Coulson frowned at Nat, who gave him her I-have-no-fucking-clue eyebrow back. Phil started to move to intercept, but Jarod called out that he had very important testimony.

General Ross objected and the head of the Committee demanded silence.

Coulson edged up beside Jarod as he sat a briefcase beside Tony's elbow on their table. "What do you think you are doing?"

Jarod smiled widely. "Giving the Hulk a voice."

Tony looked at him and Coulson forced his face into a neutral expression.

It took a short argument, but Jarod got permission to give his evidence.

* * *

Steve fidgeted as Hulk sat down on the kitchen floor where Hanna pointed.

Francis scrambled up onto the kitchen table, which put him at Hulk's head height. "Okay, you can refuse to answer any question you don't want to answer, okay?"

Hulk looked around at all of them. "Hulk talk to friends."

Jon looked surprised and Steve made a mental note to speak to him more. Hanna climbed up on the counter as Darcy took a seat across from the Hulk at the table.

"So, I just want to say I'm sorry I had to tase Bruce. That wasn't nice of me."

Hulk nodded. "Not nice." He pointed at himself. "Had to be not nice to Puny Bruce for Hulk to talk."

Francis nodded. "Yes, we did. You protect Bruce, is that right?"

Hulk smiled. "Yes."

Darcy smiled. "Do you want to hurt anyone?"

Steve held his breath. They were doing this in one long shot. Something that Jon said was important so that no one could say they'd influenced how the Hulk answered, but it was also a risk because no one had told Hulk to go easy in how he spoke.

"Hulk hurt bad men." He frowned and showed Darcy his fists. "Hulk smash. Protect Puny Bruce. Spaceman. Friend Coulson." He put his fists on his knees. "Hulk have friends now. Bad Army Leader Man not hurt Hulk friends." Hulk turned towards Steve. "Not hurt Star Man. Or Hulk smash."

Darcy nodded. "When you've smashed in the past people have gotten hurt."

Hulk sighed and pointed at his own face. "Army try to hurt Hulk. Catch Hulk. Hulk smash when Army mean."

"What about the people who aren't Army? Did you hurt them because they hurt you?"

"No." Hulk patted his knees. "They hurt Puny Bruce." He frowned. "Tase mean people too close when Hulk smash?"

Darcy looked at Steve. "Tase?"

Hulk reach slowly across the table and touched Darcy on the head as she stared at him. "Tase."

"Oh." She smiled. "Okay, sorry. I didn't know you meant me. Yeah, the people that were in the way, where they not important to you?"

Hulk scratched his head. "Hulk protect...Bad Army Leader Man shot at Hulk always."

Francis frowned. "Do you mean that you'd have protected them, but General Ross was ordering you shot at no matter where you were standing?"

Hulk smiled. "Yes." He ran a huge fingertip across the edge of the kitchen table. "Only Spaceman ever like Hulk before getting home."

Darcy frowned and Steve shook his head at her to let her know he didn't know either. She put out her hand towards the Hulk. "What about Betty?"

"Betty." Hulk's expression went happy for a moment before he looked sad. "Betty like Puny Bruce best. Careful with Hulk." He folded his hands into his lap. "Hulk protect Betty for Puny Bruce."

Francis patted the Hulk's hand. "I'm sure she likes you too."

Hulk sighed. "No." He turned his head and looked at Steve over his shoulder. "Star Man say go with Bad Army Leader Man?"

Steve sat his shield on the counter, walked to one of the chairs on Hulk's side of the table, and sat down. "Why do you call me Star Man?"

Hulk pointed at Steve's chest. "Star."

"Oh, when I'm in the Captain America uniform. Okay." He lifted his chin a little. "Who's Spaceman?"

"Stark." Hulk said it carefully like he was worried he'd get it wrong. Then he smiled huge and showed Steve his fist and mimed catching it with his other hand. "Caught Spaceman."

"Yes, you did." Steve smiled at him. "I don't have the say on if you have to go with General Ross. I want to be able to tell you that you don't have to go, but we don't know that yet."

Hulk nodded. "Property?"

Darcy and Steve exchanged glances. Steve shook his head. "What do you mean?"

Jon piped up from the kitchen counter by Hanna where he was holding the camera. "He's asking if you think he is just property."

"Oh." Steve grimaced. "Did you know that at one time people considered me property of the Army? For the good of America, I overheard once."

Hulk's eyebrows went up.

Steve gave the camera his best war bond selling smile. "Luckily, I live in the future now, where everyone is supposed to be free. Not enslaved." He turned back to the Hulk. "What do you want, Hulk?"

The Hulk looked surprised and then confused. "Hulk have home now. Like Hulk-triggered door. Hulk stay home unless Avengers say smash."

Steve smiled. "You and Bruce are one person, right?"

The Hulk nodded.

Steve gestured to the camera. "Could you prove that for me?"

Turning towards the camera, Hulk frowned. "Scare Tiny Girl?"

Hanna smiled at him. "No, I like you and you don't scare me. You saved me."

Steve watched the Hulk smile and then he started to shrink. Jon grimaced behind the camera as the popping noises started. Steve waited until Bruce was done. Then he carefully wrapped the bath towel they had ready around Bruce's shoulders and looked up at the camera.

"I read the new regulations book when I thawed out. A person is only the property of the Army if they volunteer. They are not to be forced, coerced, or threatened into military service. Maybe someone should have General Ross reread the regulation on that one."

Jon cut the film. "Okay, done."

Bruce exploded up from his huddle and punched Steve _hard_. He stood cradling his hand, shaking as Darcy bit her lip. "That was stupid. Dangerous and..."

Hanna touched Bruce's arm. "You wouldn't let him talk. Hulk just wants to protect you."

Bruce rubbed his forehead and kept taking deep breaths. "Dangerous."

Steve pulled him into a tight hug and patted him on the back gently. "No more than the rest of us." He rested his chin on Bruce's shoulder as the man clung to him. "You were never property."

Bruce started to cry softly.

* * *

Tony sat back to enjoy the show as Jarod turned a screen to face the Congressmen on the Committee. He knew they had a majority of them won over because of the amount of frowning the men were doing at General Ross whenever the pompous ass opened his mouth.

Jarod started up a tape. "This was shot in one take. The Hulk uses descriptive words as names in many cases, but he is understandable."

General Ross shot to his feet. "You can't be serious! That monster is a danger to everyone and you can't just expect..."

"Shut up and sit down, General!"

Ross dropped back into his seat as the video showed a tiny girl leading the Hulk to a kitchen table. Tony could tell it was the kitchen they'd been using for lunches. He watched with everyone else as the Hulk talked. When it was done, Tony stood up.

"I'd like to remind the Committee that the Hulk stopped Ross' second attempt at a super soldier in Harlem. Yes, there was a lot of property damage involved. Most of which was the direct result of Blonsky tearing things up just for the hell of it. If I remember right the only things the Hulk damaged, that he wasn't thrown into, was a rooftop of one building and a police car. How much damage did Ross' soldier do to Harlem?" He smiled at them.

* * *

Tony grabbed Bruce around the shoulders in a one arm hug. "I told you."

Bruce glared. "No you didn't."

"Yes, actually." Tony pulled Bruce along with him into the team room where everyone was settling in to watch _Galaxy Quest_. "I told you that you and the Hulk are one person. He proved it today."

Bruce allowed Francis to climb into his lap as Betty spread a blanket across them. "How do you figure that?"

"He said Avengers." Betty smiled at him as she sat on the other side of him from Tony.

"What?"

Hanna wiggled in between Tony and Clint. "Hulk said it while he was talking. He said he wanted to stay home unless the Avengers said smash."

Bruce stared at them.

Tony nudged him. "You know we didn't ever say Avengers where Hulk could hear it, right?"

"Never?"

"Nope. He doesn't have a comm. Which is something I'm working on." Tony smiled. "I'm pretty sure Hulk makes up names for us because no one except Coulson has ever shook hands with him right off."

Jarod settled on the edge of the pillows near Francis' feet. "Actually, most of the time Hulk uses descriptions because he thinks names are very important. He likes naming things for the feeling of control over his environment."

Hanna kicked Jarod gently. "Bruce is feeling shaky enough."

Jarod turned his head to look at Bruce. "Hanna's correct. Sorry, Bruce."

Bruce shook his head. "It's alright. No one has ever...Thank you to everyone." He looked at Steve. "Let's just never repeat that level of dangerous, okay?"

Steve nodded. "Okay."

* * *

Peggy settled into her seat across from General Ross. "I understand you've been reassigned to a new project."

Ross glared at her. "What is it to you?"

"You are going to be taking orders from my son, General O'Neill. He's not very impressed with your record. From what I understand he's thinking of putting you in charge of a base."

Ross perked up a little. "A base?"

She smiled at him. "Yes, I think they are calling it Hoth. Something like that. Very hush-hush." She leaned forward. "If you survive to retirement I suggest you leave my family alone. I've a lot of chosen family, you met a few of them today, and I'd hate to have to feed you to something nasty just because you can't remove your head from your posterior."

He mouthed 'Hoth' to himself and frowned as she walked away.

* * *

Jarod slipped from the movie room with Hanna. "You don't sleep?"

She touched the wall panel and it showed the hospital ward filled with children. "Not as much as they do. JARVIS shows me the other children."

"Ah." Jarod pulled up the video of the Congressional meeting. He scanned the gallery and frowned. "I thought I saw her."

He zoomed in on the back row and cocked his head as the picture resolved to show Miss Parker sitting on the end of the row. She was smiling just a little, the expression Jarod had always had to work hard to put on her face.

"Miss Parker." Hanna touched the picture. "She's proud of you."

Jarod brushed Hanna's hair from her face. "She's almost always been proud of me, when she wasn't mad at me."

"JARVIS, can you find Miss Parker?"

"I will start a search, Miss Hanna."

She smiled up at the ceiling. "Thanks, JARVIS." She turned back to Jarod. "Thank you for helping today."

Jarod picked her up and headed for the kitchen. "You are welcome. You should make sure to thank Jon for coming up with such a daring plan."

She nodded against his shoulder as she started to tire.


	31. Dancing Lessons

Clint watched from his seat on top of the kitchen counter as everyone gathered for lunch.

"Mom!" General Jack O'Neill glared at his mother. "Why did you say Hoth?"

"Everyone that has ever seen _Star Wars_ remembers Hoth." Peggy shrugged her shoulders from her seat amongst everyone at the kitchen table. "I figured your soldiers would give names to the planets they visit. In more than a decade at least one had to be frozen."

Coulson shook his head. "Actually, most of the gate connected planets are temperate to desert type."

Jack rubbed the back of his head. "Well, there's actually a Hoth, but it is way too cold to stick anyone on to live for more than, say, forty-five seconds. Also, it is in the Pegasus galaxy."

Peggy nodded. "That would do nicely."

"Mother."

Clint slipped out of the kitchen as they continued arguing.

* * *

Clint sat down beside Bruce and looked over the edge down the side of the building. "Nice day."

Bruce sighed. "I'm not going to do anything to hurt myself."

"Didn't think you were, Doc." Clint leaned back on his hands and cocked his head to one side. "We both know you jump we get an upset Hulk." He looked up at the sky. "And I didn't think you were going to jump."

Bruce lay back and clasped his hands over his chest. "Why didn't you think that?"

Clint flipped around so that he was on his stomach looking down the building's side. "Besides the Pretender feelings? You fell out of the helicarrier and didn't die."

With a snort, Bruce pulled a foot up onto the edge and wiggled his knee back and forth. "Not to mention I jumped from a helicopter into Harlem."

"That too." Clint rolled over and sat up to look down at Bruce. "You know they were trying to help, not make you feel unsafe in your own home."

"It isn't really mine, is it? It belongs to Tony."

Clint shook his head. "The whole world could belong to Stark if he cared to pay attention. We should all be happy he's got hobbies that don't include ruling the world."

Bruce tilted his head back. "I don't feel unsafe."

"You haven't eaten lunch with us in three days. The kids think you hate them."

Bruce rolled his eyes. "We both know they know I adore them."

"Well, yeah. Maybe Steve thinks you hate him."

Bruce rolled himself up into a sitting position. "He does not."

"Might."

"Clint."

Clint grinned. "Okay, maybe..."

"Stop it." Bruce ran his fingers through his hair. "You were going to mention Darcy next weren't you?"

"Betty, actually."

Bruce turned and looked at Clint with his eyes narrowed. "Really?"

"Three days of moping. Tony started talking about buying you a medical program in a third world country this morning."

"I'm not moping."

"Then what are you doing?"

Bruce stood up and held out a hand for Clint. "Trying to come to terms that my coping strategy has probably hurt me more than it helped."

"And that needed more than three minutes?"

Bruce looked at him as they walked inside. "What?"

Clint touched Bruce on the forehead. "You are a very smart man." He stepped back and settled on the arm of the couch behind him. "Three minutes is being generous."

Pushing his glasses up, Bruce rubbed at his eyes.

"Look, Bruce, everyone regrets things they've done." Clint gently laid a hand on Bruce's shoulder. "You can let it destroy you or you can get off your ass and enjoy Ross getting kicked off Earth because Hulk asked Captain America if he was property."

Bruce smiled a little. "Peggy said he was going to Hoth."

Clint grinned. "Big snowball in a whole different galaxy." He wrapped an arm around Bruce's shoulders and pulled him along. "Francis looked up all sorts of things to help you feel better. Don't be surprised when Hanna and him give you the puppy dog eyes."

* * *

After Clint stepped out of the kitchen, Jon pointed at Jack. "There's always that black hole we almost lost Earth into."

Everyone turned their heads towards Jack.

"We can't dial it, we'd end up needing another nuke to disengage it. You know how the paperwork is for nukes."

Steve shook his head. "No." He pointed at Jon. "Even though that was sarcastic, still no."

Jon propped his chin on his hand. "What about selling him? There's that one tribe..."

"Ah!" Jack held up a finger.

Jon stuck his tongue out at Jack.

Peggy raised her eyebrows at Jack. "You have a better solution?"

"Mudball planet."

Jon started to laugh so hard he fell out of his chair.

"I take it there's mud involved." Tony pointed at Jack with one of his fries.

Jack smiled. "It is cold, slimy, and clingy mud."

"Semi-intelligent. It likes to make friends." Jon pulled himself back into his chair. "And it stinks."

"It took Daniel nine showers to get it out of his hair." Jack thumbed his eyebrow. "We were on planet about two minutes."

Coulson smiled. "The Gate Room had to be pressure washed."

Peggy smiled. "Sounds perfect."

Clint pushed Bruce into the room. "Found him."

Francis and Hanna rushed Bruce and wrapped themselves around his legs. Bruce smiled down at them and cupped the backs of their heads.

"Hey."

* * *

Francis climbed up beside Tony as he worked. "Tony, did you have a teddy bear when you were small?"

Tony flicked a part on the design into a new spot. "No. I didn't like them."

"Phil says the teddy bear in my room is mine, but I don't want it. Can I give it to the Hulk?"

Tony dropped his hands out of the design and turned towards Francis. "He'd squish the stuffing right out of it."

Francis sighed and pulled up his feeder robot design. "We could make him one he couldn't squish."

Tony stood up. "Okay, come on, kid. Let's see if we can make a fiber with a high enough tensile strength to be worthy of Hulk-hugs."

* * *

Tony was proud of himself, if he did say so, which he usually did. The restaurant hadn't even quibbled about the possiblilty of Thor breaking crockery. The whole place for a night cost Tony less than he'd expected. Not that it really mattered since he got to watch Captain America learn to dance with a seven-year old girl-child.

Hanna frowned at Steve's feet. "Are you sure I won't hurt you?"

Steve held her tiny hands out and slowly tipped his toe up as she stepped gingerly onto it. "You can't hurt me, Hanna. Peggy says this is the best way to learn."

Peggy rolled her eyes. "Just sway to the beat, Rogers." She grinned at Hanna as the music started.

Around them the rest of the Avengers were dancing or watching the dancing.

Tony split his time between watching, building a new fiber, and the various searches JARVIS had going.

Bruce sat down next to him. "Francis asked me if I ever had a teddy bear as a child."

"He asked me that too." Tony flicked the pattern he'd looked up for making a teddy bear off his screen as Bruce leaned in.

"I think he's plotting again."

Tony smirked. "That kid is always plotting."

Bruce settled back in his seat. "He gets that from you."

With a smile, Tony tweaked the amount of titanium in the planned fiber. "Better than some things he could pick up. Just ask Pepper."

* * *

Jon finished checking his apartment. He settled down in the bed and stared up at the ceiling. "JARVIS?"

"Yes, Colonel Jon?"

Jon smiled a little at the rank. "Are the kids alright?"

"The persons you have designated 'the kids' are all within acceptable ranges."

"Good." Jon let himself sleep.

* * *

Jarod sat down across from Miss Parker. He would need to remember to thank JARVIS for giving him the information when he got back to the Tower. "You don't seem eager to catch me now."

Miss Parker put down her paper and smirked at Jarod. "Where would I drag you back to, exactly? The entire Centre is...gone."

He frowned. "Do you know what happened to the others?"

She quirked an eyebrow at him. "Wait. You didn't get us sent to Alaska a couple of days in advance? You are telling me you didn't know we watched the damn news from a shitbag hotel?"

Jarod smiled. "No, Miss Parker, I most certainly didn't. So, the question becomes, who did?"


	32. Slow Dancing

Pepper cornered Tony in his workshop. "What's wrong?"

Tony looked up, blinked blearily, and frowned. "Wrong?"

She sat a coffee cup down by his elbow. "Yes, wrong. I want to know what's wrong with you. Are you dying? Again?"

Tony took a sip of the coffee and rubbed his face with one hand. "Okay, I'm lost. What are we talking about? I'm not dying. No more than normal, at least. Did I miss the end of the world or something?" He cocked his head. "What is your problem?"

"My problem?" Pepper rolled her eyes as she dropped a tablet with the current news onto the table between them. "You haven't gotten drunk or done anything remotely crazy lately. For you, I mean. I haven't had to do more than the slight bit of clean up after the night of burning clinics in _weeks_. Something is going on with you and I want to know what it is."

"Huh." Tony took another gulp of coffee, then he turned the stool he was on to face Pepper more squarely. "Pepper, I'm tired." He scratched his head. "Just...tired. Nothing can fix it, or change it. The kids stave it off. The team makes me forget for a while." Tony looked down at the tablet and flicked through the news. "I told everyone that I could stop drinking if I wanted and I wanted to."

He held up a hand as she started to protest. "I know. Look, I know it isn't supposed to be that easy." Tony slipped off the stool and went over to the screen he'd dedicated to help keep him sober and he turned it on. "And it isn't easy, Pep." He pushed her until she stood in front of it. "I'm not a good person. I know that. Hell, everyone knows that." He touched the estimated number of people dead because of him and under that the small list of people saved. Bruce's name near the top of the list.

"Oh, Tony." She reached out slowly and traced the list of things he knew were true about him. "You..." She tapped one of the phrases and shook her head. "I yelled this at you once. I'd worked for you for less than a month."

"Twenty-three days, actually. I was sure I'd made you quit that day." Tony touched her forearm to get her to look at him. "You weren't wrong."

She smiled at him with tears in her eyes. "Maybe not then. I'm not yelling that at you now."

He snorted. "You probably should. Keep my massive ego in check." Crisis averted, he went back to the fiber he was working on.

Pepper took a photo of the screen he'd shown her and quietly left.

* * *

Jon stared down at the fluffy teddy bear design on the tablet Francis had handed him. "This won't work."

Francis frowned. "What do you mean?"

Jon touched the listed stuffing. "Bruce will have it out of the bear before you can blink, kiddo."

"Tony is working on a new fiber to use for the outside."

"To weave or something?"

Francis grinned. "Or something." He pulled the tablet closer to him. "Are you okay?"

Jon scratched his head. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"You trust JARVIS, but you wouldn't normally even like being near an artificial intelligence, which is understandable since you think they are going to kill you." He frowned. "I was wondering if you were okay."

"Wow." Jon thumbed his eyebrow. "That's creepy, Francis." He rubbed his hand across his chin. "I...don't mind JARVIS. He reminds me of Daniel. Being reasonable, always willing to listen to me, that sort of thing." He cocked his head. "You ever have anyone that just listens to you?"

Francis shrugged. "Not until I met Phil. He always listens."

* * *

Bruce sat down by Betty. "I'm sorry about your father."

She elbowed him. "You know better than to be sorry for that, Bruce." She sighed. "He dug himself a hole and then kept digging."

"Doesn't mean we should be talking about putting him on another planet."

Betty smiled. "Mudball planet is the latest one." She wrapped her arms around her torso. "He's my father and I love him." She lifted her chin. "And I want to kick him off the planet myself for what he's done. To you. To me." Betty leaned into Bruce's side. "I wish I'd known they were going to trick you into being the Hulk for that interview."

He looked down at the top of her bent head. "Why?"

"I would have told the Hulk I like him too. That it isn't a matter of liking one part of you better." She straightened up. "Even the Hulk thinks he's separate from you." She turned her body more towards him. "Bruce, why does he call you puny?"

Bruce flinched and hunched in on himself. "I don't know."

Betty frowned at him. "Yes. Yes, you do."

He took a moment just to breathe. "I...he...I can't..."

Betty gathered him into a hug. "Okay, alright. You don't have to talk about it, Bruce."

* * *

Pepper found Steve working on a layout of the farm and the mostly built school. "Steve."

He barely turned to look at her before going back to the layout. "Ma'am."

She didn't correct him, there was no point. "When you get to a stopping point I need to talk to you."

Steve moved two more buildings into what he thought would be their permanent places. He turned and sat down across the sofa from Pepper. "What can I do for you?"

"I need a little help." She handed him a cellphone with a picture on the screen.

It looked like a picture of a screen. He carefully did the double tap motion that would make the text bigger and sharper. He read through it to the end. "Is this Bruce's or Tony's screen?"

"What?" She took the phone back. "What makes you think it could be Dr. Banner's list?"

Steve raised his eyebrows. "You have met Bruce, right?"

"Well..." She looked down at her phone and then back up at him. "It's Tony's list."

"What do you want my help for?"

Pepper sighed. "I...I don't even know. Tony is...he's an ass." She tucked the phone away. "I don't want him depressed anymore than I want him walking around drunk."

Steve frowned. "Did anyone ever ask Tony what he wanted?"

"Want to you mean? All I ever do is what Tony wants."

"That's not what I mean." Steve rubbed the bridge of his nose. "The more I watch Tony the more I realize that he's always watching everyone. He's wary and tightly wound. He pokes and prods everyone where he wants them to go, but it actually turns out that's where they _needed_ to be in the first place. I wonder when he started doing that."

Pepper blinked. She thought it through. "JARVIS?"

"Yes, Miss Potts?"

"How many times did Tony start to tell me he was dying from radiation poisoning?"

There was a pause. "I'm not allowed to tell you that. Mister Stark believes it would only make you mad."

Pepper blinked. "Oh." She looked at Steve. "He made me CEO on a whim!"

Steve shook his head. "Was it really a whim?"

She looked up. "JARVIS?"

"It was not. The papers were put in place in your fourth year of working for Mister Stark in the event of his and Obadiah Stane's deaths."

Steve cocked his head. "Did he just sneer when he said Stane's name?"

Pepper sniffed and wiped at one eye. "Yes." She looked at him. "He tried to kill Tony."

"Wait. Is this the 'friend' that _took_ Tony's reactor?"

"Yes." Pepper leaned forward and took calming breathes. "Tony is..."

"He's very good at making people see what they want to see. He puts up a mask for everyone. Even us."

"I thought I was better at seeing through it." She stood. "If you excuse me, I need to go look at all the footage of Tony's expressions during our conversations where I wasn't looking at him."

* * *

Hanna held on tight as Phil eased out of the roof access door. "I hate this."

"You'll be fine, Hanna." Phil eased them down onto the bench they'd brought up and sat by the door. He eased Hanna around so she had her back to his chest. "I understand that you've told Thor about your life before coming here."

Hanna kept her eyes closed. "Yes. He kept stroking my hair. Even when I told him about my parents dying." She leaned her head back into Phil's shoulder. "Do you think it is okay that I think of Clint as my father?"

"I think that Clint would be very happy to know that you do, Hanna."

Hanna wrapped her hands around Phil's wrist. "My first Dad wouldn't be mad, would he?"

Phil kissed her on top of her head. "No, Hanna. I think he'd be proud that you are so very brave for letting Clint into your heart."

"Is it alright that if I didn't have Clint, I'd want you to be my Dad?"

"Yes." Phil stroked her hair softly. "And if you didn't have either of us?"

Hanna smiled. "I'd want Tony and Bruce." She twisted her head and peered at him. "Can I have two fathers? If I can I want you and Clint."

Phil laughed. "You can have all the fathers you want, Hanna." He checked his watch. "Let's go inside and see if we can find Natasha."

Hanna slid off him onto the bench so Phil could stand. "She said she'd teach me more tumbling."

* * *

Bruce held Hanna close as she snored through the movie's credits. "I'm surprised she's asleep."

Tony swept her bangs off her face. "She was learning tumbling all afternoon."

"Ah." Bruce watched Tony squirm his way out of the pile of people, blankets, and pillows. "What are you working on?"

Tony smiled mischievously. "Francis wants to make a teddy bear." He disappeared into the kitchen.

Bruce turned his head towards Clint. "Why was he smiling about helping with a teddy bear?"

Clint patted Bruce's arm. "You'll see, Doc."


	33. Francis picks up the Tempo

Jon looked up as Steve sat down beside him. "You here to give me the everyone here is my friend talk?"

Steve glanced at him and then pulled a notebook from the bag he had with him. "No, actually. I thought I'd give you this." He held the notebook out to Jon.

With a frown, Jon opened the book and cocked his head. "What?"

"I know you don't trust us completely and that's understandable. I just..." Steve took a breathe. "I don't want you suffering from shell shock, PS...whatever they call it now, and not have any coping instructions."

Jon thumbed the page about how to sooth hyperawareness. "Huh." He looked up. "Thanks. This is...more than..." He closed the book and pulled it into himself. "Coulson has been really nice about listening to me worry. JARVIS is really helpful too." He gestured to Steve. "You know."

Steve smiled. "Thank you." He leaned back into the couch. "I can't run cold water across my hands now."

Jon dropped his head back against the couch. "I don't like windowless rooms now."

"Ice in my drinks can bug me, but only sometimes." Steve clasped his hands across his stomach.

"Once my team left me for dead in the desert. I ended up a prisoner of war for four months."

Steve closed his eyes. "I lost a soldier, my best friend, and life just went on."

"Me too, but Daniel wasn't a soldier."

Steve turned his head to look at Jon. "Dr. Jackson, the man that is usually with the older O'Neill?"

"Yeah. Sort of." Jon looked at his hands. "The Daniel you met is actually from an alternate universe. My Daniel, the original Daniel for this 'verse, is dead." He rubbed his thumb cross the back of his other hand. "It is my fault. I let him talk his way into going along during the first mission through the Stargate. He be alive if he hadn't gotten involved."

"And the Daniel that's here now? Would he be alive?"

Jon frowned. "No, probably not. They were going to be invaded. Daniel doesn't take invasions well."

Steve nodded. "It doesn't really help, but at least the live one is here and not somewhere you can't talk to him."

Jon blinked. "Huh." He stood up and clapped Steve on the shoulder. "Thanks, Steve." He hefted the notebook. "For this too."

Steve watched him go, then he looked up at the ceiling. "Think it will help, JARVIS?"

"I believe it will, Captain."

Steve nodded and went to find something to eat.

* * *

Bruce frowned as Tony shut down the display in front of him with the main power switch instead of just minimizing things. "Tony."

Tony spun around and grinned, holding his arms wide. "Bruce! My best buddy!"

Bruce let Tony sling an arm around his shoulders. They moved towards Tony's desk for a few steps before Tony pulled away and pointed him at a swatch of...something. "What is this?"

"New fabric." Tony poked it with a pen. "What do you think? Scratchy or anything?"

Bruce turned the fabric over and examined it. It looked crocheted, well, he thought it might be crocheted. He pulled on it and it didn't stretch. "What is it for?"

"Francis." Tony pointed at the swatch. "He has a theory we're testing. Feel smooth to you?"

Giving Tony a look, Bruce put the fabric down. "Feels fine. What is it really for, Tony?"

Tony smirked. "Super secret project." He snapped his fingers. "I had a thought the other day about your..." He twiddled his fingers at Bruce. "...rage thing."

Bruce sat down and put his chin in his hand. "And what was that?"

"Training."

"What."

Tony spun around on his stool. "You said to Cap that you're always angry, right?"

"Yes."

"Okay, well, after you've been green are you as angry?"

Bruce frowned and thought about it. "No." He looked at Tony. "What are you getting at? You want to, what? Let the other guy out for walkies? I...It doesn't work like that."

Tony rolled his eyes. "No, look, what I'm saying is I wonder if you'd have more control if you transformed to train with the whole team." He held up a hand. "Hear me out. I've got an island. Don't give me that judgmental look, I'm flithy rich." He brought up a map. "See? In the middle of nowhere. Literally. Big enough for training and small enough to wrangle you if we have to."

"What about dangerous don't you people get? He'll smash someone! You! Or...or he'll get frustrated and punch someone else like he punched Thor."

Tony narrowed his eyes at Bruce. "Should I show you the footage of him worrying about scaring Hanna? Or maybe the bit where he sat down right where she asked him to? He's destructive, yes, but it isn't just random shit, Bruce!"

"That just makes it worse!"

Tony blinked. "What?"

Bruce hugged himself. "If I hadn't run then no one would have died in the chase to capture me. If I had just worked on controlling..." He grabbed the back of his head where Tony had just hit him. "Ow!"

"Quit being stupid."

"What?"

Tony hooked a foot through Bruce's stool's legs and pulled him closer to the workbench. "Here, look at this."

Bruce watched as Tony pulled up a jumble of footage. There was gunfire and Tony scrambling for a weapon that he attempted to shot back with, but it wouldn't fire. Then a bomb went off beside Tony and the footage scrambled right after that.

"Now, someone telling me that if I'd just made that weapon better so it wouldn't have jammed or that I should have been able to run through SPORTS faster doesn't change that I got blown up."

Feeling lost, Bruce looked at Tony. "What?"

"You didn't ask for your weapon, right? We all know that. You didn't get a better weapon. You got one that needs a little work. So you haven't run through SPORTS very fast. That doesn't mean you get to blow yourself up."

"Oh." Bruce keyed the video back up. "What's SPORTS?"

Tony laughed and clapped him on the shoulder. "Here, see where I pulled back the bolt, checked the chamber and safety? That's all part of it." Tony mimed going through the motions. "It stands for Slap, Pull, Observe, Release, Tap, and Shoot."

Bruce chuckled. "I can't believe you just compared my situation to a jammed weapon."

Tony smiled.

* * *

Jarod watched Clint draw his bow. "That is an impressive weapon."

Clint let loose an arrow. "Thanks. It is my second favorite." He kept firing. "You said that Miss Parker doesn't seem interested in capturing anyone?"

"I don't think she was very interested even when she was chasing me." Jarod examined one of the arrows Clint had laid out. "I'm concerned about who manipulated the itineraries to put the few people I care about out of the Centre during the destruction."

"I'm worried because none of the children came up yours."

Jarod blinked. "Why?"

Clint loosed another arrow and turned towards Jarod. "You're the best Pretender they've ever had. You don't think they'd make kids from you? Hell, they were making them from _me_."

"Oh." Jarod rubbed his thighs with his palms. "I never thought about it."

Clint nodded. "I didn't think about it until I was told Hanna is mine." He gathered up his gear. "Come on, we can't be late for the argument about the school. I want to make sure they realize not to overcomplicate things."

* * *

Phil Coulson resisted the urge to put his head in his hands. The argument over the layout of the school's final buildings had devolved into a pissing match between Stark and Rogers. As much as Phil admired the two for various reasons, he was one step from telling them both to go sit in a corner.

Natasha hitched Hanna higher on her hip as she slide silently up beside him. "We could take a firehose to them."

"No." He ruffled Hanna's hair as she looked over the school's map. "You remember you stay here. As long as you want, Hanna."

She looked up at him and then back down at the map. "I know." She pointed at the layout. "Where's the room for the Hulk?"

Everyone else's arguments trailed off into silence as people turned to either look at Bruce or stare at Hanna.

Bruce leaned forward. "What do you mean, Hanna?"

"He should have a room. I get a room, and Francis. There's a room for Avengers to stay, but that's too small for Hulk. So, where's his room?"

"Hanna, he doesn't..."

Tony elbowed Bruce in the ribs. "It just isn't built yet, Hanna. Where do you think it should be?"

Phil raised an eyebrow at Tony over Hanna's bent head. Tony cut his eyes towards Bruce, who looked dumbfounded, and then Tony lifted his chin just a little. Phil let the corners of his mouth quirk up. Tony smiled wide when he saw that.

They slowly picked back up the arguments Hanna had interrupted, but Phil could tell a complete difference in tone.

* * *

Francis crawled along the air duct until he reached the furthest junction on his floor. He carefully pulled the burn phone from its hiding spot and stared at it for a long time. He was in a blind corner for JARVIS and he didn't have much time before someone was sent to check on him.

He fingered the buttons on the phone. He had heard Clint and Jarod talking about Miss Parker and Francis didn't want to report, but he didn't want to be taken back either. He knew that the Centre would come. He couldn't keep his breathing even, it kept speeding up. They wouldn't get just him if he didn't report.

He had a deadline to met. If he didn't report by tomorrow they would come. They would take him and make him a number again. They catch Clint, Hanna, and Bruce. They'd kill everyone they didn't take. He should have called much sooner, but he'd been putting it off until the deadline. Francis felt wetness on his cheeks. He sniffed and wiped at the tears he was shedding.

* * *

Bruce frowned down at Francis as he barreled into Bruce's leg. Francis was crying, sobbing. He was babbling, but it was so distorted with sobs Bruce couldn't understand a word of it. "Oooh, okay. Francis?" He gently pulled on Francis until he could pick the boy up. "What is it?"

Francis just clung tighter and cried harder. Bruce left the experiment he was in the middle of and went looking for Tony or Coulson. Clint if he found him first. As Francis continued to loudly sob, Bruce decided he'd settle on anyone he came across.


	34. Quick Change Step

Bruce came across Tony first. "Help, please."

Tony patted Francis on the back. "Hey, little guy, what the hell?" He followed Bruce into the movie room and tried to get Francis to transfer to him, but it didn't work. Francis clenched his little fists and sobbed harder, still babbling between sobs.

"He came in and grabbed my leg and started crying. I can't understand him." Bruce sat on the couch and tried to duck his head to look at Francis' face, but Francis was buried in Bruce's shirt.

"Well, okay." Tony pulled at Francis' pant legs, checking for injuries. "You hurt, Francis?"

Bruce started to unbutton his shirt. "Just a second, let me get this off so we can see him."

Francis started to readjust his hold, but Tony caught his hand and tugged, trying to check it for injuries. Francis heaved another sob and then started trying to scoot away.

"Hey, hey. It's okay." Tony caught Francis before he could fall off the edge of the couch. "Francis. Francis!"

Bruce rebuttoned his shirt and sat still as Francis crawled back into his lap, getting away from Tony. "Okay. Stop. Please?"

Francis pressed his forehead to Bruce's sternum. "I'm sorry!"

Bruce looked at Tony over top of Francis' head. "Whatever it is, it'll be okay, Francis."

Tony jerked as Bruce grabbed his hand. He frowned at Bruce, who frowned back. Bruce sat Tony's hand on Francis' back and started him rubbing in a circle.

Coulson came in from the hallway. "JARVIS said there is a problem." He looked at them and turned towards the kitchen. "I'll be right back."

Bruce tried to get Francis to say what was wrong, but he kept repeating he was sorry and sobbing. Coulson appeared with a warm wet washcloth and mopped the tears and snot off of Francis' face.

"Give me your hands, Francis." Coulson washed each hand as well before turning the cloth over and wiping Francis' face again. "Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth."

Francis tucked his face into Bruce's chest, but he followed what Coulson said to do. Tony started to pull back, but Coulson put his hand on Tony's shoulder to hold him still.

Bruce gently wrapped his hand around the back of Francis' head. "Can you tell me what happened, Francis?"

"I'm sorry." Francis' hands clenched and unclenched on the shirt over Bruce's ribs.

"That's fine." Bruce glanced up at Coulson. "I accept your apology, alright? Can you tell me what you are sorry for?"

Francis nodded against Bruce's chest. "I don't want to."

Tony patted Francis' back. "That's okay. We aren't going to yell at you."

"Sir? There is an urgent call from Stargate Command."

Tony huffed. "Now? It can wait, JARVIS."

"Sir, I don't think this can wait."

Tony threw up the hand that wasn't on Francis' back. "Then tell us."

"It would be advisable to view this alone, Sir."

Tony shook his head and stood up. "I'll be right back, Francis. It'll be fine. We'll fix it. I promise." He grabbed Coulson's elbow and put him in the seat Tony vacated. "Hand on back, circle. Bruce will show you."

Coulson gave Tony an exasperated look as Tony turned, hurrying into the kitchen as he grumbled under his breathe about what he was going to turn JARVIS into. "Francis, have you calmed down enough to tell us what's wrong?"

* * *

Tony got to the screen in the kitchen and made sure the connecting door was closed. "What, JARVIS?"

The screen flared to life and showed him a mess for what had to be the lower levels of Stargate Command. "Shit. What happened?"

"Stark?" O'Neill sounded pissed.

"Yeah, what happened?"

"You want the bad news first?"

Tony made a face. "Sure, why not? What is it!?"

"Good news is that we'll be able to tell Ross and the Hulk apart. Bad news is Ross is a Hulk. Well, red, but big." The screen changed to show a dented Stargate. "The Stargate is still working, which is good. I'd hate to have to lease one again."

Tony's eyebrows went up. "You are totally explaining that sometime."

"Yeah, sure. Really bad news is Ross went through the Gate." O'Neill showed up in the screen. "You have any idea how the hell he could have made himself into a Hulk?"

Tony grimaced. "Don't call him Hulk. I have a hard enough time getting Bruce to accept it as a name without attaching it to Ross. I don't know. I've been a little busy."

"There's no gamma radiation research here. And he's been watched since the Congressional hearing."

"We'll figure it out." Tony cocked his head. "Is your place going to fall down around your ears?"

O'Neill grinned. "Nah. It has seen worse. Lots worse."

Tony nodded and cut the feed. "Shit." He leaned his head back against the refrigerator. "JARVIS, do we have any idea what set off the boy child?"

"He entered one of the blind spots in my surveillance network, stayed less than five minutes, and emerged in emotional flux."

Tony rubbed his eyes. "Yeah, emotional flux called a damn meltdown." He pushed off the counter and headed back into the other room.

* * *

Bruce was having trouble following Francis' garbled babble, but Coulson just nodded and made encouraging nosies when Francis paused to breathe.

When Francis finally trailed off, Coulson threaded his fingers through Francis' hair. "You were very brave to tell us that, Francis." He kissed Francis' head. "I'll made sure it is fixed, alright? No one will be gotten."

Francis sniffled and nodded with his face buried back against Bruce's chest. "I'm sorry."

Bruce patted him on the back. "Just rest."

Francis slowly relaxed and started hiccuping in his sleep against Bruce.

Once, Bruce was sure Francis was really out of it he looked up at Coulson. "How did you understand a word of that?"

"Practice." Coulson eased Francis onto the couch between them. "JARVIS, please find Clint and tell him I need him to go into the vents on mine and Francis' floor."

"Right away, Agent Coulson."

"Thank you."

Bruce raised his eyebrows.

Coulson rubbed his neck. "I'm not sure yet how much of a problem this will be. He was under orders to report all actives to his former caretaker. His deadline to report before they came to get him is midnight."

Bruce frowned. "They can't get him. There isn't anyone to left to come, right?"

"Maybe." Coulson stood up. "The older man giving Francis orders in the videos wasn't among the adults captured at the Centre. I'll do some checking."

"Did he report?"

Coulson smiled his I'm pleased smile. "No, he did not. He thought not reporting meant he was going to cause you and anyone else with the Pretender gene to be taken."

"Oh." Bruce soothed a hand down Francis' back as he hiccuped again. "Oh." He gathered Francis into his lap. "I'll stay with him."

"Thank you, Doctor."

* * *

Tony met Coulson as he came into the hallway. "We have a problem."

"Yes, we do." Coulson frowned at Tony's failing hands.

"Bigger than that."

Coulson cocked his head. "Really?"

"Yes." Tony moved down the hallway several feet and Coulson followed him. "Ross messed with something and now he's red and the size of the Hulk."

Coulson raised his eyebrows. "Alright. I give you that's a bit bigger than Francis' problem."

Tony nodded. "What is his thing anyway? He going to be okay?"

"Yes." Coulson started down the hallway and this time Tony followed. "He was ordered to report on what was going on here. His report deadline is midnight, but he hasn't called in. He was threatened with the capture of himself and others if he failed to report."

"Son of a bitch." Tony shook his head. "Wait, wait. He'd have to get a signal out for that. JARVIS?"

"Indeed, Sir. Francis has not made any attempts at outside communication."

"There you go."

Coulson sighed. "That is good, but if the location of the man that threatened Francis is still unknown." He leaned in towards Tony. "That is unacceptable."

"Agreed."

* * *

Betty stared. "That's not good."

Tony flipped the video off. "Nope, not really. I haven't told Bruce yet."

With a nod, Betty stood up. "I'd better be there when you do. Just in case. Does anyone know where he ended up? What world?"

Tony shrugged. "O'Neill didn't say, but I'd think so. From what I've read the Stargate needs an address to lock onto another gate at the other end to make a wormhole between them."

"Okay. So they know where he is?"

"Think so, yeah." Tony followed her into the movie room and stared. "What's this?"

Everyone was ranged around the pile of pillows and blankets. In the center was Bruce with Francis tucked against his side.

Hanna grinned up at him from beside Francis, who was looking tired, but better. "This is a cheer up Francis party. Steve says you can't join unless you tell a story where you made a big mess."

Tony grinned. "I've got millions of those." He wormed his way in between Bruce and Francis. "I've even got a new one about General Ross."

"Tony." Betty frowned at him from the edge of the pillows.

"What? You don't think the mess is big enough?"

Bruce frowned. "What?"

Tony patted Bruce on the arm. "Nothing much, just you know, Ross managed to make himself into a monster. He's red though. Makes identification during battles much easier."

"He what?" Bruce leaned forward and looked from Tony to Betty, and back. "He did what?"

"Don't know just how yet. I'm betting a series of injections just before the hearing. Anyway, he's big, red, and not on this planet."

Steve sat down heavily from where he'd started to stand up. "Red?"

"Not on this planet?" Bruce looked at Steve. "Why is the color important?"

Steve rubbed his chin. "Schmidt was red. I was told it was because the serum had amplified all the bad in him. That's why I was chosen. They didn't think there was enough bad in me to outweigh the good."

Bruce blinked. "Wait, what? You think..." He turned to look at Betty.

She shrugged. "Makes sense. You aren't evil or crazy. Dad let himself go batshit with his obsession over the Hulk."

Tony arched backwards and patted her side. "Way to acknowledge the insanity there, Doc."

Betty batted at his hand absently. "The question is, do you think he's stuck or will he change back like Bruce can?"

* * *

Jarod and Miss Parker both startled as Coulson smoothly pulled out an empty chair over to their table and sat down.

"I apologize for the interruption. I was hoping one of you might know where this man is?"

Both, Jarod and Miss Parker frowned at the photo.

"Why do you want to know about him?"

Coulson put the photo back in his pocket. "He attempted to gain information from Francis."

Miss Parker tilted her head. "Who?"

Jarod smiled. "You should come up and met him, Miss Parker. I think you'd like him." He smiled at her.

Miss Parker narrowed her eyes at Jarod. "Really? He's a kid, isn't he?"

Coulson cleared his throat and as soon as they looked at him he tapped his pocket where the photo was. "Who is he?"

Jarod dropped a hand below the table to tap his fingers on his thigh. "We grew up calling him Dr. Raines. He has lost the license to practice medicine since then."

Miss Parker pushed her plate away from herself. "He experimented on Pretenders. Made little clone Jarod. The man's complete evil."

Jarod nodded. "Worse than the Emperor in Star Wars."

Miss Parker rolled her eyes. "Oh, gods, you've learned pop culture references. God, help us."

Coulson stood. "Thank you for the information. I'll let you get on with your date." He moved his chair back to where he got it from and left.

Miss Parker stared at Jarod, who was staring back. "Date?"

They both shook their heads.


	35. It Takes Two to Tango

Colonel James Rhodes glared at the dent in the ring of metal that he'd been told was a Stargate. "You want me to what?!"

General O'Neill clapped him on the shoulder. "Help track Ross. The dumbass managed to end up on an ally's planet. We need to rein him in before he does something extremely stupid."

"More stupid than turning himself into another Hulk?"

Tony swept by Rhodey and stuck his head through the ring to look at the inside edge of the Stargate. "Don't call him that. Pick another name." He poked at one of the glyphs on the face of the ring. "So, what does this do exactly to make a wormhole to another planet?"

O'Neill gestured to them to follow him. "We'll show you."

* * *

Bruce frowned at the data he'd been cleared to look over. "We're sure this is how much of the serum he injected himself with?"

Coulson shrugged. "To the best of our knowledge, Doctor."

"Not good. This is very not good." Bruce flicked another piece of data up into the center of his display. "Steve, do you remember how much serum they used on you? The research notes on your transformation were lost."

Steve settled next to Bruce and put a cup of coffee in front of him. "I don't know the exact amount. There was a number of vials hooked to Howard's vita-ray machine. It wasn't really explained to me."

Bruce's eyebrows drew together and he turned his head to stare at Steve. "Howard's what?"

Steve looked from Coulson to Bruce. "You don't know about that? I thought you were trying to recreate what was done to me?"

Bruce blinked. "Wait, hold on. You think I was..." He turned to Coulson. "SHEILD thinks I was trying to make another super soldier? Really?"

Coulson closed the file he was working on. "That is the information in your file."

"Huh." Bruce tapped his fingers on the side of his cup. "That makes sense if Ross... I wasn't though."

Steve straightened. "What?"

Bruce flicked up more information onto his display. "I was working on radiation resistance. I wasn't even supposed to get hit with the amount of gamma I exposed to." He glanced at the other two. "Betty was my lab partner. Her father visited the day we did the test."

"So, how did you get injected with the serum if you weren't making it?" Coulson opened a new file.

With a shrug, Bruce rearranged the information graphs he was working on. "When you work with radiation you get used to the preventives we do have. I never did well on the pill form, so mine was an injection, which is blue in color. The blue was a little off that week, but I didn't really pay attention because I was excited about the test." He smiled sadly at Steve. "I should have paid more attention."

Steve shook his head. "You weren't to blame."

"Yeah, right." Bruce frowned at his display. "Howard's machine, do you remember what it did?"

"It hurt." Steve grimaced as the other two turned to look at him. "I don't think they expected it. They injected me and the machine closed and it was really bright. Howard almost stopped the whole thing because I was screaming." Steve waved away their concern. "I made them keep going. And it worked."

Bruce pushed his glasses up his nose from where they'd slipped down. "Steve, do me a favor and never mention that machine to anyone else."

Steve looked confused. "Why? If none of the research includes it, what does it matter?"

Coulson stood up. "There are people that would attempt to extract information from Stark thinking that he would know what happened to his father's inventions."

"Oh." Steve blinked. "That's..."

"Tony's been kidnapped before for less of a reason than making super soldiers." Bruce sighed. "Don't mention it to him, Steve."

Steve nodded. "I try not to mention Howard around Tony anyway."

* * *

Jon hitched Francis higher on his hip. "You know that no one is mad at you, right?"

Francis nodded into Jon's shoulder. "I know."

"Okay. Just checking." Jon checked that Hanna was following them, her tiny hand in Natasha's. "This place is better than the Centre, I promise."

Hanna frowned. "You miss being here."

"Sometimes." Jon smiled as they met Daniel by the guardhouse. "Hey, Daniel."

Doctor Daniel Jackson smiled at Jon. "Hi." He shook hands with Natasha and then Hanna when she stuck her hand out. He waved at Francis, who was clinging to Jon. "Uhm, Jack said that you all were going to help track Ross. He keeps destroying the MALPs and the one UAV we sent through the gate was downed in under fifteen seconds."

Jon nodded. "Did Ross seem smart when he was rampaging through the base?"

Daniel lead them into an elevator. "Not exactly." He leaned against the wall of the elevator. "He got hit by a staff weapon and that turned him into the Gateroom. I think the only reason he went through the Gate was because he was being shot at."

They exited the elevator, went around a corner, went through a checkpoint, and onto another elevator.

Jon ruffled Hanna's hair with his free hand. "You alright, kid?"

She looked a little green around the edges. "Why does he hurt?"

Jon glanced at Daniel, who was frowning, at them. He knelt down to Hanna's level. "Daniel has had a lot of stuff happen to him. He's been forced to change when he shouldn't have had to. Lots like you and Francis, but I caused a lot of his changing."

She frowned. "You when you were older. Before your new knees and the blank space in your head."

Jon pushed himself upright and adjusted Francis into a more comfortable postion. "Pretty much."

The elevator arrived and Daniel gestured for Natasha to go ahead of him. He leaned towards Jon as she stepped out.

"I don't blame you, Jack."

Jon snorted. "I made you more of a soldier when all you wanted was to be a linguist and archeologist, Daniel."

Daniel herded Jon ahead of him. "Still not blaming you."

* * *

Hanna demanded Tony pick her up as soon has she saw him. He swung her onto his hip and went right on arguing about how much Ross was intending to destroy. She hooked her hands tightly into Tony's shirt so he couldn't leave her behind.

The base was very different from the Centre, but that didn't mean she wasn't worried someone would try to make her stay. Tony had said she could stay in his Tower, so if she stayed with him she'd get home for very sure.

The map of the world Ross had ended up on was laid out on the table. It didn't look complete. She leaned forward to see if there was a good place to chase Ross into so he'd get tired and turn back into his human size.

Hanna didn't listen to the argument happening because she could tell they were really just unsure of what to do, instead of really arguing. "Can't Bruce stop him?"

They all quieted down and looked at her. She pointed at the only canyon on the map that might work. It wasn't really deep, but if they could get Bruce to chase Ross around some beforehand, the walls might be high enough.

"What do you mean, Hanna?" Tony looked down at her.

She could tell he was happy, so she thought she was probably right. "Ask Bruce to chase Ross around and then into that canyon. Bruce changes back when he is tired. Ross probably will, won't he?"

Jon smiled at her. "Which is fine, but there's a city of people that we have to keep them away from."

Hanna frowned at the map. "Can't we just show the map to Bruce once he's the Hulk?"

She looked at Francis as surprise rippled through most everyone in the room. He shrugged at her.

Tony patted Hanna on the back. "We could try, but I don't know that the Hulk can read a map." He cocked his head. "We could make him a treasure map though."

Jon's eyebrows went up. "A what?"

* * *

Pepper looked up as Coulson came into her office. She shut down the video she was currently on that showed Tony paying attention to how Pepper's car's brakes were working. "Phil." She smiled. "What can I do for you?"

He sat down across from her and pushed a file across the desk. "I need to know if you have seen anything like this in Stark Industries archives."

She opened the file to a sketch of Steve's. "Hmm. No. I don't think so. You haven't asked JARVIS?"

"No." He put another file on top of the open one. "On another note, we have a problem."

She read the new file and grimaced. "I heard Francis was upset." She looked up. "You think this Raines is still out there somewhere?"

Coulson flicked through the pages of the file to a photo. "This was taken the night of Centre's collapse. This man is not among the adults we arrested. He was there. Natasha remembers him laughing, but no one has seen him since." He leaned back. "I'm hoping you've found information I don't have."

"You think I might have run across him skimming from the Centre funds and not realized it?"

"Yes."

She hummed as she pulled up all the files for tracking the Centre's funds. "It is a complete mess to follow. I don't...Wait." She punched through until she got to the table showing the funds going to the cloning program. "There's this one. The program isn't listed on the Centre's main funding sheets after a certain date, but the funds were still being moved."

"Raines was in control of Jarod's clone." Phil came around the desk to look at the information Pepper was putting up.

* * *

"Oh, no." Bruce shook his head and pointed at Tony's face on the screen of the video phone. "I am not agreeing to that."

Tony grinned. "It was Hanna's idea."

Bruce glared. "I don't care. I'm not as wrapped around her finger as some people."

"You do remember the Big Guy adores her, right?"

Bruce rubbed his forehead. "Not helping yourself, Tony."

Tony grinned. "Look, just think about it. They can't get anything through the Gate since Ross keeps smashing everything. We can't send a person unless it is Thor, but considering we don't know if Ross is stronger than you...Do you really want a Thor-shaped hole in another planet, Bruce?"

Bruce huffed. "No." He narrowed his eyes at Tony. "I can see what you are doing, Tony."

Tony nodded. "I didn't think you couldn't." He pointed at Bruce. "You don't know for sure that your green self won't agree to help. Although, I distinctly remember the Hulk saying he'd stay home unless the Avengers said smash."

Bruce hung up on Tony. "Damn it."

* * *

Clint settled across from Peggy at the kitchen table where it looked like she had a file for every child they'd rescued. "Ma'am?"

She looked up and smiled. "Hello. Clint, isn't it?" She gestured at the files. "You are a Pretender, correct?"

He nodded. "Yes, I am."

"I've been going over the files of the children to see if I could help Darcy with the school." She nudged a file that was trying to fall off the table into a more stable postion. "What do you think would help the children with fostering a sense of self?"

Clint blinked. "What?"

Peggy smiled kindly. "If this pretending you do is a constant ability that can't be simply shut off, then I would think you had trouble figuring out what is just you."

"You should probably ask Jarod."

"And I probably will, but right now I am asking you."

With a frown, Clint stood and moved to the counter. He pulled down a glass and filled it with orange juice. "I can't help you with that one." He turned to face her and leaned against the counter.

Peggy raised an eyebrow. "You can't help because you have no answer, or because you don't know how to apply the answer to the children?"

Clint looked at his feet. "I don't have an answer."

* * *

Betty followed Jarod through the airport. She knew that Stark's driver was behind her somewhere keeping them both in sight, but she couldn't focus on that. "I still don't understand why you asked me to come with you."

Jarod smiled at her. "In case something goes wrong my clone would go with you and Mr. Happy will get you both back to the Tower."

"That doesn't help you, though." Betty clutched the strap of her purse to herself as they squeezed through the crowd.

Jarod looked up as the intercom garbled something. "I can take care of myself."

She almost stumbled as she tried to follow Jarod's sudden change of direction. "Where are you going?"

"Didn't you listen to the intercom?"

She frowned. "You understood that?"

He blinked. "Oh." Jarod turned and started to say something to her, when his eyes went over her shoulder. "Jay."

She turned and there was a boy with a backpack hanging off one shoulder. Well, calling him a boy was a disservice. He looked about Jon's age, but he had an air of innocence around him Betty was sure Jon hadn't ever had. "Oh, hi."

Jay looked from her to Jarod and tightened his grip on his backpack strap. "Hello."

Jarod smiled and slowly moved forward to hug Jay. "I'm glad to see you."

Betty eased them out of the flow of the crowd as Jay just stood there awkwardly. She offered her hand to shake when Jarod moved away. "I'm Betty Ross."

He looked down at her hand and then hesitantly took it in his hand. "I know."

She bit her lip and then turned to look for Stark's driver. "Do you have luggage?"

Jay looked at Jarod and then back to her. "No."

Jarod smiled. "That's alright." He started them back the way they had come. "Have you spoken to Dad lately?"

Jay moved so Betty was between him and Jarod. "I got an email from him yesterday. He was worried about you being in that Congressional meeting."

Jarod nodded. "That's the least of our worries right now."


	36. Hulk gets to Dance

Bruce looked up at the entrance of the mountain. "I am completely insane."

Natasha smiled at him. "You are not. You would like to catch Ross and make him sorry. That's not insane. I would like to catch him myself."

"You..." Bruce blew a breathe out. "I thought we were timing this so we could flush out Raines while the children were surrounded by a bunch of Coulson's former coworkers."

"Clint can get Raines without you for backup. I'll be going back as soon as you are settled."

He gave her a 'you are weird' look. "You don't exactly settle me."

"I know." She patted him on the arm. "There is a shaft that was a missile silo that goes clear down the levels inside the mountain. It is more than big enough for the Hulk to use if you need out." She headed for the car he'd just came from.

He turned. "Do you need the keys?"

She shook her head. "I need to practice hot-wiring. Good a time as any."

Bruce shook his head and headed for the entrance. "I am completely insane _and_ surrounded by lunatics."

* * *

Jarod looked around the table and wished he'd known these people far earlier. Coulson was spreading files out and explaining to Jay their tentative plan to capture Raines by letting the extraction team that would come for Francis to get Jarod instead.

Clint sat down next to Jarod. "You don't have to be the bait. He hates me too."

Jarod took the drink Clint handed him. "Raines wouldn't take his time with you. He'll keep me alive longer."

Clint huffed. "It is a crap plan." He turned his drink around and around. "You are going to get killed."

Jay looked up from the papers in front of him. "Raines wouldn't kill me. I can be the bait."

Coulson stilled and looked towards them. Jarod and Clint both shook their heads.

Peggy pushed another file onto the table. "You will be the back up bait. If the extraction team appears to be just shooting every decoy instead of looking for people to take, then you will be the bait."

Jarod glared. "No."

Peggy cocked an eyebrow at him. "What exactly do you think we should do? We aren't handing that man a child. Jay is an adult and if he ends up being the bait, then we will just have to move that much faster."

Clint pursed his lips and brought up the layout of the Tower. "Okay, so we have Betty holed up here..."

* * *

Darcy stared down at the little sea of faces. "Okay, so someone, well, several someones think it'd be a good idea for me to met you all." She waved at them a little. "Uhm, I'm supposed to be helping make you all a school with...stuf."

They just stared. Darcy was pretty sure there were several that weren't blinking.

"Okay. What about music? Have you all heard "7 8 9" before?" She pulled her new ipod out of her bag and the speaker dock to go with it. If she was being sidelined into 'protecting' the kids in the hospital, she was going to get at least one of them to smile.

* * *

Tony could see that Bruce was more nervous than he'd been since moving into the Tower. "Hey, here, she's being heavy."

Bruce took Hanna gently, they worked her tiny hands loose from Tony's shirt and Bruce sat down with Hanna in his lap. "This is not a good plan."

Jon clapped Bruce on the shoulder. "Older me won't let anyone leave you stranded. We'll come with one of the spaceships if the gate gets destroyed. It will just take a week or so to get there."

Tony leaned against the table. "Besides, you aren't going alone. I'll be there too."

Bruce looked up at them and with his eyebrows lifted and a frown. "What? You can't just go...What about JARVIS? You need his help with the armor."

Tony shrugged. "As long as they keep the gate open JARVIS has a connection. And I can fly it without JARVIS, just not as well."

"Tony." Bruce turned as the door opened.

Steve stepped through. "We're ready."

Jon lifted Hanna from Bruce's lap. "I won't let them out of my sight."

Bruce nodded. "Well, let's see if we can convince the other guy that the gate isn't for smashing."

* * *

They'd cleared the Gateroom already. General Jack O'Neill cleared the control room and had the blast shield for the conference room lowered.

Bruce took off his shirt and handed the folded shirt to Steve. "I still don't know that this is the best idea."

Steve took the shirt and handed it to Dr. Jackson. "It will be alright. If Hulk appears to be afraid we'll open the blast doors for the silo and Iron Man will follow him up and out."

Bruce nodded. "Right. That's lots better for everyone outside."

In the control room, Jon sat Hanna on a chair. "Don't touch the buttons."

She rubbed sleepily at one eye. "I won't." She peered over the console into the Gateroom. "After this we go home, right?"

Jon put Francis up next to Hanna. "As soon as we can, we will go home, Hanna."

Jack patted Hanna on her shoulder. "Don't worry, kiddo."

* * *

The Hulk huffed and looked around himself. The big ring against one wall was a sharp smelly thing. He turned and looked at Spaceman grinning up at him.

"Hey, Hulk." Spaceman waved. "We thought you might want to hunt Bad Army Leader Man."

Hulk crouched down. "Where?" He turned his head to look at Star Man, who'd been quietly standing near an open Hulk-sized door. "Smash?"

Star Man stepped forward and put his shield on his arm. "Yes, Hulk, you get to smash General Ross. We have to open a door for you to go through to get him. It's loud." Star Man turned towards the wall away from the ring. "Let's try it."

Hulk looked that way and waved back at the Tiny Girl and Tiny Boy waving at him through the thick glass. He turned when the ring started to make noise.

Spaceman pointed at their feet. "You have to stay back here behind the yellow line, okay?"

Hulk nodded and moved towards the back wall, away from the yellow line on the floor. The ring kept moving, it had another light on it now. "Lights?"

Spaceman nodded. "It uses an address to open the door." He held up a paper. "Hulk, can you remember this?"

Hulk knelt down and looked over the paper. "Not letters."

"No." Star Man pointed at the ring. "To get back we have to hit the not-letters in that order and then the big red button."

Spaceman tapped the paper. "Softly. Like your door. No smashing it."

"Hulk remember." Hulk huffed and watched the ring move. "Ring smell."

Spaceman and Star Man traded looks.

Star Man looked at Hulk. "Smell? What do you mean?"

Hulk tapped Spaceman's chest carefully so it didn't smash him. "Chest tiny smell. Ring big smell." He turned and tapped Star Man's shield. "Also smell."

From the control room, Jon hit a control. "Stark, what is your arc using for a core?"

Tony shrugged as the ring kept turning. "It uses an element..."

Jon interrupted. "We'll talk about it later. The last chevon is locking."

Hulk turned towards the ring as it started to whine. Then it pulsed a huge bloom of blue which reached the yellow line that snapped right back into a wavy surface across the face of the ring. "Door?"

Star Man straighten up. "Door. Hulk, Ross is on the other side and he's going to try to smash you."

"Bad Army Leader Man is puny, puny. Hulk smash." He jerked his head towards the open Hulk-sized door as a small rolling thing appeared.

Spaceman patted his wrist, pulling his attention back around. "That's just my relay for Voice. You need to not smash it, okay?"

Hulk nodded. He went up the ramp to the ring and touched the wavy surface. It tingled. "Cold." He backed up a step and bounded through.

* * *

Steve blew out a breathe as Hulk disappeared. "Okay, that went well."

Tony clumped up the ramp after the MALP. "Yeah. How long are we giving it?"

"Minute and a half. First time through the gate, he might be throwing up. Most people do." Jon shrugged as Tony made a face at them through the control room's glass. "You might not."

Tony shook his head and ignored him. Steve stepped up behind Tony as the MALP trundled froward.

"Tony, is this really a relay for JARVIS?"

"Boosts the signal well enough that as long as we don't go clear around the planet he'll be able to reach me. If we're going to make a treasure map for Hulk to take Ross along, I have to lay the path."

Steve nodded. "I still don't like this plan."

* * *

Hulk came out and landed on his knees as everything was _different_. He rubbed at one ear and then he was being hit by a huge red thing. Hulk roared and they tore across the ground. Getting to his feet, Hulk grabbed at the red puny thing that smelled like the Bad Army Leader Man. Hulk growled.

The Bad Puny Red smiled. "Banner."

Hulk narrowed his eyes. "Hulk smash." He ran towards the Bad Puny Red.

* * *

Tony stepped through the gate with his helmet still off. He knew Steve didn't like it, but Tony would be damned if he threw up inside the armor. He went to his knees on the other side. "Okay." He clutched his stomach, contracted on breathing through the sudden nausea, and listened to the fighting roars off to his left somewhere. "Okay, I see what they mean."

Behind him Steve stepped through and braced his hands on his thighs. "Woah."

"Yeah." Tony took a breathe and straightened up. "You okay?"

Steve nodded. "I'll be fine. You?"

Tony put his helmet on and flipped down the faceplate. "I won't be barrel rolling anytime soon."

"Why didn't you mention the time limit to either Banner or Hulk?"

Tony braced himself to fly. "Bruce would have bulked. Hulk would be distracted." He kicked in the thrusters.

Behind him, Steve stood guard over the MALP and looked around at the remains of the other MALPs.

* * *

The Tower was quiet and Clint waited. Natasha was a few floors down, also waiting. JARVIS had warned them someone had attempted to cut the power lines, so they'd let the Tower go dark in response.

Clint watched Coulson shift below him. "You okay, sir?"

"Barton, what about radio silence do you not understand?"

Clint smiled at the exasperation in Coulson's voice. Some things never changed. "I asked first."

Coulson sighed. "I'm stiff."

Below them the distant sound of a door breach came up the elevator shaft.

Natasha sounded bored as she reported hostiles coming in.

Clint readied his tracking arrows.

* * *

Jarod let himself go limp and stay that way as the invaders grabbed at him. They bagged his head and started to carry him towards the elevator. He heard the whoosh ping of Clint's tracking arrows.

Coulson downed two invaders before they started firing back heavily. Jarod worried about Coulson until he heard one of the whoosh pings again. If Coulson had been hurt, Clint would have shot someone in the eye.

Jarod felt them jab him in the neck with another drug. He blacked out.

* * *

Coulson frowned at his arm as the tracking data showed the kidnappers as still moving. "I'm fine."

Clint pulled the bandage a little tighter. "Just a flesh wound. Right, sir."

Jay pointed at them. "That's a movie reference!"

Natasha tried not to smile. "Yes, it is." She punched Clint in the shoulder. "You were supposed to protect him."

Coulson frowned. "I am _fine_."

Peggy waved her hand for them to all be quiet. "They are slowing down."

Everyone crowded around the display as the tracking stopped. Half the trackers weren't active yet. They watched as six trackers went out.

Coulson tapped the controls and started one new one. It came online smoothly. They watched as all of the trackers in Jarod's clothes stayed in place as the rest of the trackers began to scatter. Coulson made his call. "Boss, the foot soldiers have been paid."

"Roger that. The package?"

"Currently stripped."

Director Fury nodded on the screen. "Understood. Fury out."

They watched the scatter continue and then Clint zoomed in on the biggest cluster of trackers still together and moving steadily. "This one."

Coulson nodded. "My thought as well."

* * *

Hulk caught the Bad Puny Red and got to smash him once before he shoved Hulk into a tree and jumped away. Hulk roared as he went after him. They chased across the forest until there was a flare of light off to the right.

Bad Puny Red stopped to look at it. Hulk grabbed him and bounded towards it. Hulk knew Spaceman made light. He might need help.

They didn't get far before Hulk was busy fighting Bad Puny Red as they blew through trees.

"Stupid Banner." Bad Puny Red punched Hulk in the head several times. "Stupid Hulk."

Hulk growled and backhanded Bad Puny Red off himself. "Puny, puny."

The light flared up again. Hulk left Bad Puny Red behind to check on Spaceman. Too much light might be as bad as no light.

Bad Puny Red roared and followed.

* * *

Tony grimaced as his HUD told him both Ross and Hulk were following the flares he was laying down. "JARVIS, remind me to finish something on Hulk's communications so we can talk to him during these fights."

"Of course, sir, in the middle of a first flight on an extraterrestrial planet you are worried about communications with the Hulk."

Tony snorted a laugh. "Yeah, well, priorities." He looked at the countdown for the 38 minute window on the gate. "Let me know when they start gaining, J."

* * *

Hulk stopped after finding the third light. He turned and waited for Bad Puny Red to catch up so he could smash. He roared as Bad Puny Red hit him, throwing them across the ground where it was rocky.

They tore at each other, the ground, Spaceman came and hit Bad Puny Red once with the light from his hands. Hulk used that small bother as an opening to hit Bad Puny Red hard in his stomach. Hulk kept on him as Bad Puny Red doubled over, coughing, and holding his stomach.

Spaceman hovered near Hulk. "Hulk can you bring Ross after me?"

Hulk beat on Bad Puny Red's head, smashing him into the ground several times, cracking the rock under them. "Hulk follow Spaceman."

"Great." Spaceman flew away.

Hulk smashed his enemy a few more times and then grabbed him up to follow Spaceman.

* * *

Jarod woke and shivered.

"Well, well."

Jarod curled around himself on his side and tried to ignore the tingle in the back of his throat from the cigarette smoke.

There was a scrap and then slow footsteps. "You thought you would be clever with tracking units in your clothing. On my Cleaners."

Jarod had a momentary fear that all the trackers had been found. Then he calmed himself and lay still.

Raines leaned down to speak in Jarod's ear. "We are going to have such fun."

* * *

They watched the group of trackers stop and start to go out again. Coulson waited. Clint paced behind him, something he normally couldn't do while waiting.

Peggy watched the data from the trackers flatline one by one. "Ready?"

Coulson shook his head. "Wait." The remaining trackers went down in a burst. Coulson let out a sigh. "Start up one in thirty seconds."

They waited the thirty seconds and then a tracker came to life. It was a small distance from the last known position and moving. They watched it until it stopped again. It went out.

Coulson waited two minutes before activating the next one, this time on a different person from the small group. They followed it until it stopped again. It began to make slow loops around the warehouse it was in.

Natasha looked at Coulson. "Should we start one on Jarod?"

Coulson nodded. "The one in the surface of his foot."

That tracker appeared in the same warehouse as the guard. It was near the center, not moving.

Coulson flicked his fingers at Clint and Natasha. "Go. Be safe. Get him back."

Clint clapped him on the shoulder. "Right away, sir."

Natasha nodded and touched the spot on the screen that was Jarod's tracker. "We'll get him."

* * *

Steve stared as the Hulk stepped out of the forest with Ross wrapped up in some sort of fiber Tony had assured everyone would work for this. "Is that braided?"

Tony landed near them. "Yep. Francis and I worked it out for a present for Hulk."

Hulk frowned and dropped Ross at their feet. Hulk kicked Ross in the side. "Puny, puny." He looked at Tony. "Present?"

"A gift, yeah, Hulk. We're making you something for you to have."

Hulk blinked and frowned down at Ross. "Hulk not own things."

They startled as the gate shut down. Hulk walked over to it and knocked on the side of the gate.

"Smashed?"

Tony retracted his faceplate and laughed. "No. We just have to dial...Say, Hulk? You want to put in the address for home? Like I told you before?"

Hulk came through the empty ring and looked down at the DHD thing that Jon had shown Steve a picture of before Bruce had arrived at the mountain.

Steve stepped closer. "Just push the buttons. Right, Tony?"

Tony stayed were he was. "Yeah, it'll do that plasma bloom again, so you know, move out of the way."

Steve moved the MALP while Hulk dialed. The thing whooshed like before and then JARIVS' voice came from the MALP.

"General O'Neill would like to know if the mission is a success, sir?"

Tony smiled as Hulk bent down to stare at the MALP. "Tell him we're ready to come back home, J."

Hulk poked the MALP. "Voice moved homes?"

"No, Mr. Hulk. Voice only came to insure that Hulk came home with Tiny Girl."

Hulk huffed, stood, and picked up the MALP. "Good." He turned and grabbed the drag line for Ross. Then he looked at Steve. "Home, Star Man?"

Steve nodded. "Yeah. Let's go home, Hulk."

Tony clomped up beside him as Hulk disappeared through the gate. "How's it feel to be on a whole different planet?"

Steve looked around at the downed trees. "Like there's a lot of trees."

Tony laughed and they stepped through the gate together.

* * *

Clint pulled Jarod's limp body up and put him into a fireman's carry. "Nat?"

She was breathing a little heavily over the comm line. "Got the bastard." She made something make a whimpering sound. "How's the package?"

Clint moved them across the warehouse. "Not in good shaped." He clicked over to Coulson. "We need medical."

Coulson's voice was calm in his ear. "Waiting for you to come to them. Southeast corner."

"Got it." Clint moved them along a wall until he got to the door to the outside. Nat came from another direction, dragging a bound up man. Clint went first through the door.

* * *

Hanna clapped her hands as Hulk lifted her up. "You got him."

Hulk smiled and lifted the Francis too. "Bad Puny Red leave Hulk alone now."

Jon nudged Ross as he started to shrink. "Oh, look he can change back."

Tony and Steve came down the ramp. Hulk turned to watch them.

Steve looked up at the Hulk. "You did great, Hulk."

Hulk blew a breathe out and blinked. "Great good?"

Tony patted the Hulk on his elbow. "You did awesome. Both of which are good. Saved the day. Hey, Hanna."

Hanna waved from her perch on the Hulk's shoulder. "Can we go home now?"

Tony smiled. "As soon as Coulson calls."

Hulk sat down next to the MALP. "Friend Coulson home?"

Steve tightened the bindings to match Ross' new size. "He is at home." Steve leaned in towards Tony. "Why isn't he changing back?"

Tony shrugged and made a face. "He's not done yet? I don't know. Ask him."

Dr. Jackson appeared from the side of the Gateroom. "Uh, hi."

Hulk cocked his head. "Marine?"

Jon laughed and fell over as he kept laughing.

"Ah, no." He looked at Jon. "Don't mind him." He turned back to the Hulk and put out his hand. "I'm Daniel."

Hulk looked from Daniel's hand to Jon laughing and back. He took Daniel's hand and shook carefully. "Hulk."

Daniel smiled and sat down on the MALP. "Pleased to met you, Hulk."

Hulk raised his eyebrows, turned to look at Tony. "Pleased?"

Tony stopped shedding his armor and looked up. "Uh, yeah. Means he likes you. Probably wants to talk to you." Tony nudged Jon on the foot. "Why is he laughing?"

Daniel adjusted his glasses. "He finds the idea of me as a Marine hilarious."

Jon clutched his sides and rolled onto his back. "Wormhole Extreme."

Daniel sighed and covered his face with his hand. "Oh, God."

Hulk sat down and pulled Jon into his lap with a small yelp from Jon. "Breathe."

Jon wiped at his cheeks. "Yeah, I'm breathing."

Hulk patted him on the back and looked at Daniel. "Talk?"

"Uh, yes." Daniel leaned forward. "Do you have other words for 'puny'?"

Hulk rubbed the back of his neck. "Puny is...bad."

* * *

Jon watched Daniel map Hulk's vocabulary from his place in Hulk's lap. Daniel looked happy, which was good. Jon missed having Daniel around. Jon let the rumble of the Hulk's voice lull him into relaxing. "You should ask him about smells."

Tony settled on the MALP with Daniel. "Yeah, good idea, Jon."

Hanna slipped down the side of Hulk's chest to sit with Jon. Francis followed and soon Jon had two sleeping children nestled against him in the lap of someone that could wreck the whole mountain. Jon wondered about his life sometimes.

* * *

Natasha handed off the prisoner and went back into the warehouse because she'd seen a problem. The size of the inside of the warehouse didn't mesh with the loops of the guard on the tracking map. It took her a few minutes, but she found a hidden entrance.

"Coulson, I found more space to check." She eased the door open.

"Roger that. Hawkeye is on his way to your location."

"Alright." She waited for Clint. He appeared from around the corner, streaked in Jarod's blood. "Status?"

Clint pulled his bow over his head. "He'll live." He lifted his chin at the entrance. She nodded and they went in.


	37. Hulk goes Home

When Phil had gotten a call from the hospital his first thought was that someone had gotten through Thor to Darcy and the children. The noise over the line was a surprise. "Are they singing?"

"We're videotaping it for you, sir. I just thought you'd like to know that Ms. Lewis has gotten the most reaction out of them as a group yet."

"Thank you." Phil shook his head has he ended the call. He turned to the screen showing tracking for the final stage of the building clearing Black Widow and Hawkeye were conducting.

Peggy was flicking through the status report on Jarod's injuries. "Stupid boy."

Phil read the list and frowned as he looked across the table to Jay. "He'll be fine."

Jay nodded. "I know. I've been a doctor before." He pointed at the tracking dots on the screen. "They got Raines?"

"Yes." Phil pulled up the feed for the prisoner transport that was taking Raines to the helicarrier. "He's in SHEILD custody." Phil checked the report from the agent riding along with the man. "Looks like he isn't speaking." He didn't mention the non-stop laughing.

* * *

Clint covered Nat as she moved through the next doorway. She moved on and he followed right behind. They got to a closed door. He stood beside it and nodded at Nat to open it up.

Clint went through and cleared the room for hostiles and adults. Then he just stood there staring at the child huddled in the back corner.

Nat came up beside him and looked down at the kid. She nudged him with an elbow. "Are we good?"

Clint slung his bow over his head. Then he crouched down and held out his empty hand for the kid to see. "Hey there. I'm Clint."

The kid tucked their head down and whimpered.

Clint settled onto his butt because this was going to take some time. "It's okay. No one is going to make you do anything."

He listened to Nat slip back out of the room as he worked on getting the kid to lift his head to look at them.

* * *

Natasha leafed through the papers on the desk outside of the kid's room as she waited for Coulson to get back to her on arranging transport of the kid. She stopped when she found the notes for the child's origins. "Coulson, this isn't good."

Coulson snort came across the line. "Tell me something I don't know."

She read down the page and flipped it over to read the list of failures. "Please tell me that I'm going to be allowed to kill that man."

"What have you found?"

Natasha gathered up the paper evidence as she reported her intel.

* * *

Steve silently fretted as he watched Hulk and Dr. Jackson talk. Tony followed Ross out of the Gateroom leaving Steve to watch over the children as they slept.

Hulk cradled them carefully as he talked to Dr. Jackson. "Hulk smell good."

Steve stepped up beside Dr. Jackson. "What's he mean?"

Dr. Jackson grinned as he looked up from the notes he was taking. "He means he has a very good sense of smell. Hulk, you said the gate, Star Man's shield, and Spaceman's chest all smell the same?"

Hulk rumbled. "Good Hit's puny hammer smell same." He twitched his nose. "And poky shock too."

Steve and Daniel exchanged looks as Tony came back in without his armor on.

Dr. Jackson looked back up at the Hulk. "Poky shock? What does that mean?"

Tony reached over Hulk's arm to brush Hanna's hair. "Thor's lightning. Like static electricity for Hulk."

Steve nodded. "So what is Hulk smelling, Dr. Jackson?"

"Just call me Daniel." He tapped his pen on his notebook. "The Ancients used naquadah to build the Gates. It is really rare here on Earth. Our supply of it comes from off-world."

Steve looked down at his shield. "Howard said what they put in my shield was all their known supply back then."

Tony tapped his reactor as he thought about it. "And I created what I've got for my cores. So, we're looking at a substance that Hulk can detect. Awesome."

Hulk rocked forward a little, causing Jon to brace against his chest. "Hulk help?"

"Yeah, that helps." Tony patted Hulk's knee. "You ready to go home yet? You usually have gone to sleep or something by now."

Hulk cocked his head. "Hulk take Tiny Friends home."

Steve raised his eyebrows and looked at Tony who was making one of his 'well, shit' faces.

Tony thought for a minute before snapping his fingers. "Tell you what, buddy. We'll get a transport to get you from here to the airfield, but it isn't Hulk sized. I don't have that made up yet. We'll talk about what you want for comms on the way. Okay?"

Hulk grinned and lifted Jon out of his lap to the floor. Then he gathered Hanna and Francis carefully so he could stand up. "Hulk go home."

Tony shrugged at Steve as he made a face. Tony leaned in close. "You want to tell him no?"

Steve shook his head. "Not really." He turned to find General O'Neill standing a few feet away.

General O'Neill steadied Jon as he looked up at the Hulk. "If you don't mind small spaces we can put you on the elevator, but if that's a problem I'll get the silo opened up."

Hulk bent down and looked O'Neill over carefully. "No Army?"

"Nope." O'Neill jerked his thumb towards Jon. "I'm Air Force like he was. No Army."

"Hulk" Hulk shifted Francis so he could stick out his massive hand towards O'Neill.

"General O'Neill." O'Neill eyes widened as Hulk to his hand in between his thumb and finger to shake. "Pleased to meet you."

Hulk blinked and turned towards Steve and Tony. "Pleased?"

Tony smiled. "Yeah, not Army people like to met you."

The Hulk rumbled and walked towards the Hulk-sized door. "Hulk go home now."

Tony followed hurriedly tapping something into his phone.

O'Neill turned towards Daniel and Jon as they followed the weird looking group towards the supply elevator. "You know the thing I don't get, Daniel?"

Daniel raised his eyebrow as they turned a corner. "What's that, Jack?"

"Why do those kids have bouncy balls? Don't kids like stuffed animals anymore?"

* * *

Thor watched over the hospital until Coulson came to tell him they were safe on again. Young Darcy had made merry with the children recovering from their captivity in a way that Thor was pleased to see. He turned as Coulson came from the rooftop door.

"Thor."

"Son of Coul."

"Everything alright?"

"Indeed." Thor nodded towards the windows showing Darcy trying to teach the children some ritual dance. "Darcy is making friends heartily."

"I see that." Coulson settled beside Thor on the roof. "The others are on their way back. The Hulk is refusing to change back into Banner."

Thor resettled his hammer next to himself. "Is my help required?"

"No." Coulson checked his tablet. "He's just insisting on taking the children home, so Stark has arranged a transport that can handle Hulk's weight and size."

Thor nodded. "General Ross has been captured?"

"Yes." Coulson sighed. "I was hoping you could tell me what Hanna told you of her life before."

Thor turned his head to look at Coulson. "Is there a problem?"

"We've found another child." Coulson sighed as he sat down next to Thor. "We had to sedate him to get him out of the room he was being kept in. I need a better idea of what is typically done to the children than I can get from the research notes. You are currently the only non-Pretender that possibly has this information that I can ask quickly."

Thor nodded. "Hanna was sorely mistreated." He picked up his hammer and turned it over in his hands slowly. "No affection was given to her. No hugs nor smiles. She was reprimanded or punished for any show of emotion."

Coulson nodded. "Frightened as well."

"She was told to fear the world." Thor smoothed his fingers across Mjolnir's cool surface. "That she is capable of any trust is remarkable."

"If you had to try to gain this new child's trust, how would you go about it?"

Thor stood up and held his hand out to Coulson. "I would pick a single person to be the child's lodestone."

* * *

Getting Hulk from the plane onto a transport to get him to the Tower was proving to be more difficult than getting him out of the O'Neill's base.

"I'm coming with you."

Hulk eyed the opening and looked down at Tony again. "Hulk no like."

"I know. You've said. If you would just let Bruce back out I promise he'll take you and the kids home."

Hulk huffed and moved Hanna from one arm to the other next to Francis. Both of them were still asleep. "Hulk protect not puny Bruce."

Tony nodded. "I get that. I do. You just can't walk across the city." Tony gestured towards the city's skyline. "It'd be too much noise and it'll wake up the kids."

Hulk blinked and frowned. "Hulk make noise stop."

Steve shook his head at Tony who made calm down motions with his hands.

Tony reached up to pat Hulk's forearm. "That'd just make more noise when someone called the Army. Trust me."

Hulk cocked his head and then snorted. He eyed the transport again. "How long?"

Tony climbed up into it and stuck his head back out. "Fifteen minutes."

Hulk frowned. "How long is minutes?"

Tony wrinkled his nose. "Uhm...Okay, something you don't remember from Bruce. Let's see...Fifteen minutes is the time in between the tiny mom bird to coming to feed the tiny baby birds and coming back again."

Hulk nodded and leaned down to look in the transport. "Friend Jon come too?"

Steve clapped a surprised Jon on the shoulder. "What do you say?"

* * *

Clint watched the kid scramble down from the bed they'd left him in to scuttle into the furthest corner from the door. The exam while the kid had been out told them the kid was male, around eight, and covered in bruises of various shades.

From his place in the vents, Clint could see the kid working the baseboard off the wall.

Nat leaned against the wall just inside the door and waited for the boy to notice her.

"I won't help you."

Nat's eyebrows climbed. "Okay. I wasn't asking for you to help with anything. May I know why you are prying a baseboard from the wall?"

The boy looked at her over the edge of the bed. "No." He went back to what he was doing and then stopped. He peeked at Natasha again. "Why aren't you beating me?"

She tucked a hair behind her ear. "You won't be hit here. No one will beat you for saying no or anything else."

"Great. A new test." The boy went back to what he was doing to the baseboard and ignored Nat completely.

She looked up at him and Clint gave her the hand sign for how-the-hell-should-I-know through the vent covering. She rolled her eyes and kept watching the kid.

* * *

Tony followed Hulk down to his room and watched with amusement as he insisted on tucking Francis and Hanna into his pillow pile. Hulk came back over to his door once the kids were arranged to the Hulk's satisfaction. "Thanks, Hulk."

Hulk sat down and pushed Jon into the room past his knee. "Sit with Tiny Friends."

Jon nodded. "Yeah, sure." He settled in between the kids and grinned when the Simpsons appeared on a screen beside Hulk's hummingbirds. "Sweet."

Tony sat in the doorway to the room. "Are you ready to switch back to Bruce?"

Hulk looked around his room and then nodded. "Hulk home." He leaned against the wall next to his door and closed his eyes.

Tony grimaced as the popping noises of the transformation filled the air.

"Gross." Jon wiggled his fingers at the transformation. "Does that hurt him?"

"Probably." Tony leaned forward to catch Bruce as he listed to one side. "He won't say, but I figure it does." He pulled on the outside edge of the purple pants he'd given to Bruce. "The pants worked great, though."

* * *

Jarod mentally groaned as all the minor injuries from Raines' anger made themselves known. He pried open one eye and stared at Miss Parker sleeping on a couch next to the bed he was in. Jarod started to push himself up, but Jay appeared at his side and pressed him back down.

"You need to hold still. You will heal faster if you do not aggravate the injuries."

Jarod nodded and relaxed into the bed. "We got him?"

Jay climbed up to sit cross-legged on the end of Jarod's bed. "Yes. He was raising another child."

Jarod tensed up. "Another clone of us?"

"No." Jay frowned down at his own hands. "He is a clone, though. Raines appears to have made him after losing me."

It made sense to Jarod. Raines' experiments had never been stopped, only hindered, by setbacks like losing the location that had held Jay. "Who is he cloned from?"

Jay shrugged. "The tests aren't done yet and the papers called him a clone without saying who he came from."

* * *

Rhodes frowned as they moved Ross in a mix of chains and some woven fiber Tony hadn't named yet. He'd been happy when O'Neill said he wasn't needed to go off-world until he heard that Tony had gone instead.

Ross's eyes widened as an older woman stalked into the holding cell they were moving Ross into. He struggled against the chains and fiber-rope as she stomped right over to him and leaned in to glare.

She reminded Rhodes of some of the Military Training Instructors he seen just before they tore up whatever cadet had pissed them off.

She smiled grimly at Ross. "Well, it appears you've managed to endanger my son and his friends. You've even managed to offend an off-world government into asking if they can charge you under their laws. I rather liked their punishment. Sticking you on a lifeless moon for a few decades might straighten you out a little."

Ross rolled his eyes. "You don't scare me, old woman."

She smiled. "No, I wouldn't expect a berserker like you know enough to fear anything. Just remember that the Hulk enjoyed smashing you into the rock hard enough to break it. I'm sure he'd like to do it again. I'll be sure to mention where you are being held to Dr. Banner."

Ross frowned as she swept out.

Rhodes clomped over to the door guard. "What was that about?"

"She's General O'Neill's mom."

* * *

Steve watched the video feed of the child Clint and Natasha had pulled out of Raines' small base. "Has he said who he is?"

Betty shook her head. "Clint spent three hours trying to get him out of that room he'd been held in before they tranquilized him."

Tony came in and snagged a banana from the counter. "Bruce is normal sized again. I left him to sleep it off in the movie room." He came over and leaned in to see the video. "What this? That the new kid...Holy shit."

Steve startled at Tony's outburst and dropped the tablet with the feed. He turned to find Tony standing there hyperventilating. "Hey, Tony." He grabbed Tony and sat him down. "Deep breaths. Slow down and just concentrate on breathing."

Betty moved the tablet out of Tony's line of sight. She came around the table and rubbed at Tony's back. "What's wrong, Tony?"

Tony shook himself and reached for the tablet. "I must be seeing things." He zoomed the feed in on the boy in the corner of his room pulling on the baseboard. "I am not seeing things." He dropped the tablet and put his head between his knees.

Coulson came in from the hallway followed by Thor and Darcy. "What's going on?"

Steve held out the tablet with the video feed. "Tony seems to know who the child is."

"Who is it, Tony?"

Tony wrapped his hands across the back of his neck still hunched over. "He's me."


	38. Time isn't Linear

Bruce listened to Coulson's explication as he watched the video feed on the child clone. The boy was still huddled in the corner. Natasha was sitting next to the door where they could barely see each other around the end of the bed.

The boy fingered the baseboard he'd pried off the wall and glared at Natasha.

Bruce cocked his head, made a decision, and stood up. "Uhm, sorry." He bit his lip as everyone around the table looked at him. "I think I know why he pried off the baseboard." He gestured towards the hallway. "I, uh, want to talk to him."

Phil nodded slowly. "We still aren't sure how to adress him."

Bruce shrugged. "I'll just ask him." He headed down to the room they'd put the boy in between Phil and Francis' rooms. He gently knocked and eased the door open.

Natasha looked up at him. "Bruce."

"Hey. Hi." He didn't look towards the boy. "I'd like to talk to him."

She nodded. "Of course." She slowly stood and stretched out her back. She looked at the boy glaring at them. "This is Bruce." She turned to him. "He'll need food in another hour at the lastest."

Bruce ignored the rumble of the boy's stomach as he nodded. "I'm sure he'll let me know if he's hungry."

"Hey! I'm sitting right here!"

Natasha gave him one last glance as she slipped out the door. Bruce propped it open a couple of inches and went as far as the end of the boy's bed. He sat down on the floor and looked at the boy glaring at him.

"You were checking the date, weren't you?"

With a jerk, the boy huddled himself back into his corner. "What? I...don't know what you are talking about."

Bruce gave him a bland smile. "Yes, you do. I'm Bruce, by the way. What's your name?"

The boy frowned and looked down at the baseboard. "No one thinks about baseboards when they are lying to you, you know?"

"I do." Bruce hunched forward to put his elbows on his knees and tuck his chin in his hands. "What's your name?"

"I..." The boy tapped his head back into the wall behind himself. "I'm not who Raines tells me I am. The dates are wrong." He waved the baseboard.

"He told you that you are Tony Stark and that you were...what? Sold to him by your father?"

The boy jerked and blinked several times. "You're like me, huh? That funky thing I can do where I can tell when people are lying."

"Sort of." Bruce pointed at the baseboard. "The manufacturing date. It's what, 2011 or 2012, right? The Tower we are in is very new."

The boy looked down and nodded. "Yeah, 2012. I...Raines was insisting it was the 1980's. He kept saying I could help save the world." He looked up at Bruce. "I'm not Tony or Anthony."

"No, you aren't." Bruce reached out slowly to touch the end of the baseboard. "You are a clone of Tony Stark, but you aren't him. I am...none of us...are going to ask you to work for us." He tapped the end of the board. "You are extremely smart, just like my friend, Tony. And you look hungry."

The boy pushed the end of the baseboard into Bruce's fingers. "I'll find the test in this and I'll make you sorry."

Bruce smiled. "No tests. We're still convincing Hanna and Francis of that. I don't expect you to believe me. Do you have a name you like that we can call you?"

"Steve."

Bruce bit the inside of his cheek as he shook his head. "No, sorry. We've got a Steve. Something else?"

The boy thought about it as he fingered the baseboard. "Edward?"

Bruce nodded. "I think we can live with that."

* * *

Tony locked himself in his workshop, changed all the inputs so no one could come in, and ordered JARVIS to override all the overrides so even Coulson couldn't just waltz in. Then he used his lock-cutter to snap the lock on the cabinet he'd put all his alcohol from around the workshop in.

He glanced up at the ceiling tiles and headed across the workshop to grab a sheet of metal to make a barrier.

* * *

Edward stuck his head out into the hallway slowly and stopped. "No brutes."

Bruce let him go at his own pace and stayed out of arm's length the entire time. "No. You don't call them Cleaners?"

With a shrug, Edward ran his fingers across the wall panels as he creeped down the hall. "No. They're brutes. They like to..." He glanced at Bruce and then stopped talking.

Bruce didn't say anything as he lead them to the stairs. "There's an elevator if you'd rather..."

"No." Edward stood against the wall, shaking as he pressed himself into the wall. "Stairs are great. I like stairs."

Bruce nodded and went ahead of him through the door. He kept himself half-turned, ready to lunge for a catch if Edward started to fall as they went up the stairs. "You always knew you weren't really Tony?"

Edward leaned over the rail to look down the stairs. "No." He looked up. "I thought I'd been sold to him for being too stupid until I was about five." He touched each stair with his bare foot before actually stepping up onto it. "Someone had a cellphone. It was way ahead of what Raines had let me have."

Bruce held the door to the common floor open and let Edward take his time easing through it. They worked their way down the hallway to the kitchen. Someone, Bruce figured it was Coulson, had propped the door open.

They could smell food and Edwards' stomach rumbled again. Bruce stuck his head in and glanced around. They'd cleared the kitchen except for Coulson, Jon, and Steve. Bruce gave them a careful smile before pulling back to give Edward plenty of room.

Edward saw the people and went stock still. His breathing sped up until he was nearly panting. Bruce shook his head as Steve started to stand. They waited as Edward stared at them all.

* * *

Hanna clung to Clint as he carried her and Francis down the hall away from Hulk's room. "And this little Tony doesn't trust anything?"

Clint nodded as they got into the elevator. "He's terrified and Tony is upset enough he's locked us all out of his workshop. Bruce is trying to help the little Tony right now, so I need you both to stay with Thor until we can get some food into him, okay?"

They both nodded and wiggled to get down as Thor greeted them. Hanna stared around them because she'd never been to Thor's floor before. Clint settled them and reassured Thor they were helping Tony by doing things like they were.

* * *

Peggy settled across from Raines as Agent Romanoff leaned against the wall behind her. "I'm here to learn what you have been doing to the clone you made of Anthony Stark."

Raines giggled and the oxygen tank cycled a puff of air. "Fuck off."

With a polite smile, Peggy leaned forward. "You will tell me what I want to know before you die."

* * *

Jon ate as he watched Edward touch the table and the counter. The boy had looked at everything's copyright dates or manufactured by dates. He'd even opened the refrigerator to read the use by dates.

Bruce smiled at him from across the table as he took another bite and made way more noise chewing than normal.

Jon got what they were trying to do, and he got that Edward understood it too. Trusting was a bitch when you were wounded. Jon dug into his carrots. "You want a bite of this?"

Edward drifted over to look at Jon's plate. "You are just going to drug me into compliance, aren't you?" He poked at the edge of Jon's food with a finger.

Coulson handed Jon another fork. "We are just trying to feed you, Mr. Edward."

Jon put the fork he'd been using down next to Edward's hand and started eating with the new fork.

Edward blinked and gave Coulson a weird look before touching Jon's used fork with his fingertip. "Don't call me mister. I don't like it." He rolled the fork over and looked at it as Jon took another bite of food.

Coulson nodded and passed the rolls to Bruce. "Of course, my mistake, Edward."

Jon forced himself not to smile as Edward picked up the fork and sniffed it. Edward glanced between Jon and Coulson before grabbing a carrot from the middle of Jon's pile with his fingers. He sniffed it.

Bruce took a roll and sat the basket between him and Steve. "We've got four different ages here all eating the same food, Edward. If we wanted to drug you we could just overpower you and use a needle."

Edward snatched a roll and slid under the table. Jon peeked under there when Bruce looked astounded. Edward was sitting between Bruce's feet, one arm hooked around Bruce's right leg as he chewed the carrot while sniffing the roll he'd broken open.

* * *

Clint eased his way through the vents and wasn't surprised Tony had blocked his way into the workshop. He moved further down and looked in using the small hole he'd carefully made just in case of this sort of thing.

Tony had trashed a good portion of his desk. Broken screens and papers littered the floor around the desk. Tony himself was sitting cross-legged in front of an open cabinet, sobbing.

It didn't take Clint even a moment to decide what to do. He touched the donator and braced as the tiny explosives popped dropping him and his part of the vent into Tony's workshop. Jarvis said something Clint missed because Tony was screaming, scrambling away from him.

Clint worked his way out of the vent and then settled down into a cross-legged posture like Tony had been in. "Sorry."

Tony threw a wrench at him, but Clint didn't even have to dodge because it skidded across the floor to stop at his knee. "I locked the damn door! Don't you understand a locked door?"

Clint spread his hands. "Nope. Thor doesn't get it either, by the way."

Tony scooted closer and pointed at Clint. "You drew the short straw?"

"No straws." Clint looked up at the full cabinet. "Were you going to blow yourself up?"

Tony laughed harshly as he scooted close enough to lean against Clint. "I'm fucked up."

Clint gathered Tony close. "I've been you. I know."

Tony sniffed and dropped into sleep as he hiccuped.

Clint eased him into a more comfortable postion. "JARVIS? If he muted you, can you unmute for me?"

"Thank you, Agent Barton."

Clint smiled up at the ceiling. "No problem. How long has he been awake now?"

"He was approaching thirty-seven hours." JARVIS voice went steely. "He is most upset about the clone, Edward."

Clint rolled his eyes. "What is with the middle names, seriously?" He took the blanket Dum-E was offering. "Thanks, buddy. Do you think you can unblock the door for me?"

Dum-E clacked his gripper claws together and rolled off.

Clint looked over the cabinet. "JARVIS, did Tony actually drink anything? 'Cause it looks like he just piled bottles in groups."

"No. He handled several bottles, but did not open any."

"Awesome." Clint looked up as Jay came in with Pepper. "He's fine."

Pepper looked around the room. "Well, this isn't actually that bad. He's asleep?"

Clint lifted Tony up into Jay's hands. "Yeah, I startled him when I blew the vent. He crashed right after. I probably triggered him enough to cause nightmares."

Pepper nudged a sheet of paper into Dum-E's dustpan with her foot. "He's been having them more, I think." She looked up at the ceiling. "The reinforcement in the ceiling held up."

Clint looked up at it. "Yep. I think Tony'd blow out the door before he blew into the floor above or below." He stood up and took part of Tony's weight back from Jay. "Thanks."

Jay looked around as he shrugged with the shoulder not covered in Tony. "He's hurting very loudly."

Clint grimaced. "Yeah, well, what did Jarod feel like when he first found you?"

Jay blinked. "Like someone had destroyed his whole world."

"Pretty much." Clint followed Pepper as she lead the way out of the remains of Tony's workshop.

* * *

Betty stared down at Hanna. "You want to what?"

Hanna scrambled up into the chair next to her as Thor stood at the stove in his apartment's kitchen cooking pancakes. "I want to make a teddy bear for the little Tony. He might like them better than Tony does."

Betty looked at Darcy, who shrugged, and then at Francis, who was poking at a tablet. "Well, okay." She cocked her head. "Why a teddy bear?"

Hanna grinned up at her. "We made one of the Hulk. Tony says it should be able to handle a little smashing and he crocheted the outer casing." She and Francis exchanged glances. Hanna turned back towards Betty. "You don't know about the crocheting though, okay?"

She bit her lip and nodded. "Of course."

Hanna nodded. "We're going to put it in Hulk's room and Tony says we don't have to wait for Hulk's birthday or Bruce's birthday or anything." She frowned. "Why can we give gifts whenever we want?"

Betty ruffled Francis' hair as he looked up to see her answer. "Gifts are things from your heart, Hanna. You can give those any time you feel like it."

* * *

Jon watched the chicks as Coulson changed their water. "He's a mess."

Coulson nodded. "Not unexpected. Natasha says that he was an experiment to see if they could make him exactly like Stark."

Jon nudged one of the chicks away from the second water dish so Coulson could pick it up. "Do you think it is going to stress Bruce too much to be the kid's lifeline?"

Coulson frowned as he sat the refilled water back down. "I think that he wouldn't have gone into Edward's room if he thought he couldn't handle it." Coulson looked at Jon. "Are you alright?"

Jon snorted. "Hell no. I'm tense. Hulk decided to like me without asking if that was okay with me." He gestured around the room. "I'm mooching off a billionaire with more trauma to his name than I've got." He folded his arms. "That's saying something, you know?"

"I do." Coulson sat down across from Jon. "I was in the mountain when the Gate was connected to a black hole. I know what you've done, sir."

Jon blinked. "Sorry." He rubbed his cheek. "It's just all...weird."

Coulson nodded and stood up. "Normal is overrated."

Jon laughed and pushed himself up. "Yeah. Let's go see if Steve convinced Eddie to let go of Bruce's leg yet."


	39. Calming Nerves

There were days Phil Coulson didn't like his job. Then there were days like this when he was certain he'd made a difference. Phil stayed still against the wall as Hanna tried to convince Eddie to look out the kitchen to see the chicks.

"You should look. They have to go to their coop on the roof tomorrow."

Eddie clung to Bruce's leg and peered at Hanna around the doorjamb of the kitchen door. "What is this testing?"

Hanna frowned and looked at Bruce. "We don't take tests, do we? Tony said no tests unless we wanted to take them."

Bruce hovered a hand near Eddie's shoulder. "No tests, Hanna. Edward is just worried like you were before Tony said you could stay."

"Oh." Hanna came closer and looked up at Bruce. "Tony's upset right now, so asking him if Eddie can stay should wait, right?"

Bruce smiled as Hanna put up her hands to be picked up. "Yes, Hanna." He picked her up and settled her on the opposite hip from the leg Eddie was latched onto. "Though, I'm sure Tony will let Edward stay."

Hanna leaned out a little to look down at Eddie. "You should listen to Bruce. He's usually right about what Tony will do."

Eddie frowned. "Tony is Anthony?"

Bruce glanced at Phil as he spoke. "He is Anthony Stark. Everyone calls him Tony."

"Who Raines wanted me to be." Eddie nudged Bruce's foot with his toe as he looked at Hanna. "Why did you pick her up?"

Hanna put her arms up and out. "This is the pick up posture. If you do it to an adult they'll pick you up."

Phil eased forward and stopped when Eddie flinched and pressed himself tighter to Bruce's leg. "Eddie is heavy enough that only Thor or Steve will be able to carry him for long, Hanna."

Hanna huffed. "Hulk could carry him forever."

Bruce hugged Hanna into his side with the arm she was resting against. "Let's not involve the other guy until Edward feels more secure, alright?"

Phil detangled Hanna's hands from Bruce's shirt and they transfered her to him. "Come on, Hanna. You were supposed to stay with Thor until we had a chance to introduce Eddie to everyone."

Hanna sighed as she hitched her knees higher into Phil's ribs. "You were taking forever. He's a little Tony, not a potato chip."

Bruce's eyebrows went up and he mouthed 'potato chip' at Phil.

Phil rolled his eyes. "Hanna, what did I say about listening to Darcy's way of comparing things in the world?"

Hanna cocked her head. "That it will only make sense to Darcy and me if I do."

"Yes. So, no comparing potato chips to people."

With a frown, Hanna kicked one foot. "Potato chips are fragile, and Tony isn't. Eddie isn't either. So why doesn't that work?"

Phil turned and headed back to the elevator. "It's a social convention." He turned them at the door and waved at Bruce. "Like waving. Something that's expected of you."

Hanna sighed. "Okay." She smiled as she waved at Bruce and Eddie. "You'll like it here. When Tony's workshop gets all fixed I'll show you the fiber Francis and I helped Tony invent."

* * *

Bruce pried Edward's hand away from his thigh, again. "You're alright, Edward."

"Eddie." He put his cheek against Bruce's hip and watched the door carefully. "She called me that."

"She did, yes." Bruce tugged and pushed until they were next to the couch near the chicks. "I'd like to sit down, please."

Eddie let go of Bruce and huddled down next to the couch as he sat down on it. "Why does she like being carried?"

Bruce patted the cushion next to him. "You can sit too." He raised his eyebrows at Eddie as he frowned at the couch like it was going to attack him. "She likes being up higher and getting skin contact. I also think she enjoys getting people to do something that she asked for."

Eddie nodded and scrambled over the arm of the couch to sit next to, but not touching, Bruce. "I don't understand the rules here."

Bruce gently ran his hand over Eddie's head, just barely touching the hair. "I know. You'll adjust."

Eddie snorted and curled his knees up into his chest and wrapped his arms around them. "Why dosen't anyone want me to take tests?"

"You've been in the control of a pretty insane person, Eddie. Everything here is going to be different for you. No beatings. No hitting you." Bruce perused his lips. "Would you like me to set you a test?"

Eddie turned his head to rest one cheek on his knees as he stared at Bruce. "What sort of test?"

Bruce shrugged. "I set math problems for Tony to solve while he talks to me. Clint solves them sometimes too."

Eddie rubbed his nose. "Raines always wants me to do math."

"Wanted." Bruce gestured to the room at large. "Raines doesn't control you anymore."

Eddie made a face. "So? No math?"

Bruce smiled. "No math."

"Huh." Eddie shifted until he was sitting on the front edge of the couch. "I saw one of the brutes doing something once that I want to learn." He looked up at Bruce. "I don't know the name for it."

With a nod, Bruce put his forearms on his knees. "What did it look like?"

Eddie made motions with his hands. "There was a metal stick and soft thick thread. The metal stick made the thread turn into shapes."

"Only one stick?"

"Yes." Eddie looked around the room. "Are there cameras here?"

Bruce glanced at the ceiling. "JARVIS could tell you were all the cameras are." Bruce stood up and got a tablet from the chair next to the chicks. "Here, is this what you saw?" He pulled up a search page and showed Eddie the results.

Eddie looked surprised. "Yes, that's it." He looked up at Bruce. "How did you know?"

Bruce tapped the tablet and pulled up a site for crochet stitches. "I've seen it before." He held the tablet out to Eddie. "I know how to knit, but I don't know crochet. We'll ask my friend Betty and see if she knows how."

Eddie frowned at the tablet and poked it with a finger. "She'll just help? Just like that?"

"Yes." Bruce sat the tablet aside and stood up. "Let's go find her and we'll see if she'll help."

Eddie slid off the couch and looked up at Bruce for several seconds before putting up his arms in an approximation of what he'd seen Hanna do.

Bruce bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing as he picked up Eddie. "Okay?"

Eddie leaned one way to look down and then the other. "And children like this?"

"Most do, yes." Bruce hitched Eddie a little higher. "I can put you back down if you'd rather."

With a quick shake of his head, Eddie clung tight to Bruce. "No."

* * *

Hanna waited patiently for Phil to put her down so she didn't hurt him since his scar wasn't completely formed yet. "He's really scared."

Phil turned them so he could put her down on Thor's couch. "Yes, he is. You were asked to stay on Thor's floor, why did you leave?"

Hanna scrambled down and gave Phil's legs a hug. "Tony is hurting. Everyone is worrying. You aren't calm inside." She looked up at him. "I want to fix it."

Phil cupped the back of her head and nodded. "I know, Hanna. I want to fix it too."

* * *

Jon watched Betty work from a quiet corner in the back of her lab. She reminded him of a far less cocky version of Carter. Jon frowned down at the tablet of results he was working his way through on the children in the hospital.

Betty glanced at the ceiling and then looked at Jon. "Can you tell if Clint is in my ceiling?"

Jon looked up at the ceiling and then at Betty. "Are you worried about it?"

She shrugged. "He takes breaks above my lab. I sometimes hear him snor a little."

Jon raised his eyebrows. "That doesn't tell me if you are worried about it."

Betty came over and pulled a stool out to sit across from Jon. "I'm not worried about weither he is in my ceiling, but about him. You've read what the Pretenders do, right?"

Jon nodded.

Betty flicked her hair over her shoulder. "Right. So, that's the thing. What's just Clint? He likes mint in his water, that's Bruce. He flits through projects like a hummingbird, that's Stark. I've seen him focus on something with an intensity that makes me think of Natasha. You see what I'm saying?"

"Yeah." Jon leaned back. "You're worried he's picking up you when he's in the vents."

Betty sighed and shook her head. "No, I mean...It's fine that he picks up a mannerism or a phrase. I'm just...Can he be stable long term? It is something that he can get lost in?" She clasped her hands together in her lap. "What about when he's ill or injured? What about Jarod right now?"

Jon nodded as he tapped his fingers on his knee. "You've got a point. From what I can tell they can get lost in it. Jay said something about someone named Angelo that is barely functional when he's deep in pretending." Jon tipped his head back to look up at the ceiling. "I figure if they are adult and sane they're about as stable as they can get."

Betty looked thoughtful. "True." She stood up and put the stool back in place. "I'm trying to map the Pretender gene and see why the Centre was so interested in yours."

Jon frowned up at the flash of red that he could see through the vent. "Mine? I'm not a Pretender."

Betty cocked her head. "You've got the gene."

"No, I have the ATA gen...Wait, wait, wait. Is there a degree of this gene? Like really strong and sort of so-so?"

Betty nodded. "Yes. What's the ATA gene?"

Jon scrubbed his hand through his hair. "Old me is going to shit a brick."

* * *

Clint motioned Francis forward as he kept up circling his hand on Tony's back. "Hey, kiddo, what are you doing here? I thought you were staying with Thor for now."

Francis crawled into Clint's lap and buried his face in Clint's neck. "Everyone hurts."

"Ohhhh." Clint settled Francis into a better postion. "I know, but it'll get better. Tony will feel better when he wakes up. Bruce will feel better when Eddie starts feeling safer."

Francis sniffled. "It's all my fault."

Clint nudged Tony more onto his side and laid Francis down next to Tony. "Hey, Francis, it isn't your fault at all." He smiled and nodded as Francis shook his head. "Really. If you are made to do something against your will that isn't your fault."

Francis froze as Tony's arm snaked over him. Tony muttered in his sleep and pulled Francis in against his stomach.

Clint went back to circling his hand on Tony's back. "You are both going to be okay."

Francis yawned and closed his eyes. "Can I sleep here?"

Clint met Tony's half-open eyes. "I'm sure Tony won't mind, Francis."

* * *

Steve wasn't expecting Bruce and the little clone of Tony to be coming from the stairs. It caught him out in the hallway, between Bruce's lab and Betty's.

Eddie screeched and tried to fling himself off Bruce's hip. Bruce twisted and pressed them into the wall as he concentrated on breathing.

Steve froze with his shield half-raised.

Bruce made a face and tried to let Eddie down. "Hey, okay. What's wrong?"

Eddie batted at him as Betty and Jon came from Betty's lab. "You lied!"

Steve exchanged helpless looks with Bruce. "About what?"

Eddie huddled down and and started prying at the baseboard as he sobbed.

Jon looked from Eddie to Steve and back. "Oh."

Steve looked at him as he lowered his shield. "Oh, what?"

Jon grimaced and crouched down. "Hey, Eddie? He got frozen that's why he looks the same."

Eddie froze with the loosened baseboard in his hand. "What?"

Jon jerked a thumb at Steve. "He crashed into the ice and froze. He got thawed out just a few months ago so he's still young."

Eddie swiped at his cheeks and stared up at Steve. "You didn't abandon me...him?"

Steve dropped down to one knee. "I did not know about you until Clint, Natasha, and Phil brought you here." He ducked his head a little to catch Eddie's eyes as they started to lower. "I had to put the plane into the ice to save a lot of people. I wouldn't have abandoned anyone if I had been given a better choice."

Eddie sniffed and rubbed his nose. "Can I touch my Dad's..." Eddie frowned. "The shield his Dad made you?"

Steve nodded and extended his arm with the shield. "Sure you can."

Eddie looked at Bruce, who nodded, and then he gingerly reached out to touch the shield.

* * *

Steve frowned as he stood with Bruce outside of Eddie's room as the boy slept having crashed. "I don't understand. He'd met me in the kitchen when we were eating."

"You didn't have the shield on your arm then." Bruce pointed at Steve's workout clothing. "Or red, white, and blue clothes on."

Steve looked down at himself. "Oh."

"Yeah." Bruce rubbed at the back of his neck. "We're going to need to get him comfortable with Hanna and Francis as quickly as we can. Hanna isn't going to leave him alone."

Steve nodded. "She's something."

Bruce laughed. "Yeah." He clapped Steve on the arm. "I'm going to check on Tony."

Steve motioned towards Eddie's room. "I'll watch over him."

"Thanks." Bruce smiled as he headed for the elevator.


	40. Questions and Fear

Bruce nodded to Miss Parker. "Ma'am."

She rolled her eyes. "I'm not that old yet. No ma'am-ing me." She gave Jarod a little smile he couldn't see with his eyes closed. "Keep an eye on him for me? I need to see if some of our mutual acquaintances are still in the safe house I left them in."

Bruce nodded and moved far to the side to let her pass. He turned back towards Jarod and smiled as Jarod watching them. Bruce turned, closed the door, and turned back. "You heard her?"

Jarod closed his eyes. "Yes. She cares. Don't let her armor shell deceive you."

Bruce settled on the edge of the chair Miss Parker had been using. "How are you feeling?"

Jarod half-smiled. "LIke I let myself get caught by Raines. Again."

Bruce clasped his hands together. "Clint and Natasha found another child Raines was holding."

"Jay said it was a clone."

With a nod, Bruce frowned. "A clone of Tony. Raines was trying to see how close he could make the child to the original. We're calling him Eddie."

Jarod stared up at the ceiling. "What happened that's upset you?"

Bruce took a deep breath. "He was clinging to me and we ran into Steve. Eddie thought we were lying because Steve still looks the same, like in the comics. He..." Bruce hunched over. "He was so afraid. I didn't just _see_ it." He looked at Jarod. "I could _feel_ it."

"Oh." Jarod turned his head towards Bruce. "You've never had that happen?"

"Not..." Bruce swallowed. "Not in a very long time. I thought I'd imagined it back then." Bruce swiped his cheeks. "I can't..." He took another breath. "I thought I could help Eddie. That I knew what he needed, but..."

"You are exactly what he needs." Jarod hitched himself a little higher on his pillows. "Bruce, feeling what others do is a very rare and special ability. You are going to be alright."

Bruce shook his head. "I'm still affected. It didn't go away when I left him."

Jarod grimaced. "You're feeling me."

Bruce froze. "What?"

"You are feeling me." Jarod tapped his fingertips on his thigh. "I let Raines near me again. I told myself I wouldn't ever again after the last time. He had me that time because I had to save..." Jarod stopped, blinked, and looked at Bruce. "It took me a while to quit feeling terrified inside last time. I estimate it will take 20% longer this time."

"Oh." Bruce leaned forward and poked a finger into the back of Jarod's hand. "You idiot. Why didn't you let someone else play the bait?"

"And let someone else be held by Raines?" Jarod shook his head fiercely. "No. Never."

"I understand." Bruce leaned back. "How do I control it?"

* * *

Jon looked up as Phil came into Betty's lab. Phil nodded to Betty and sat down on a stool across from Jon. "Thanks for being willing to talk to old me."

Phil shrugged. "It isn't a problem, sir. What was your concern?"

Jon pushed the report Betty had printed out for him. "The Pretender gene is the ATA gene."

Phil grimaced. "That both complicates and simplifies things."

Betty gave Phil a disbelieving look. "Simplifies?"

"The ATA gene is the Ancient Technology Activation gene that allows certain people to command and use a certain people's technology. They called themselves the Ancients." Phil frowned over the report. "It is a fairly rare gene." He glanced up at Jon. "This does explain certain behavior in some of the gene holders."

Jon gestured at the report. "It also explains why we weren't finding an even distribution through age groups like Carter and Frasier expected."

Phil blinked and focused on Jon. "Did you happen to ask JARVIS about your former co-workers, sir?"

Jon raised his eyebrows. "Do you mean, did I found out that Frasier got killed? Why, yes, Coulson, I did manage to hear that one." Jon sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Sorry. Sorry, I'm just..."

Phil waved it away. "Don't worry about it." He cocked his head. "I was told that you knew right away exactly why Edward was upset by Captain Rogers."

Jon shrugged. "I had the same thought in the hospital when I first saw him without the cowl on. Here's this guy, looks just right, you know? He's just casually saying, oh, yeah, I'm him. I just got froze. Oopsie." Jon shook his head. "Like it isn't the biggest thing ever." Jon blinked. "Well, shit."

Phil scowled. "What?"

Jon rubbed the back of his neck. "Did anyone think to check him for the gene?"

Phil leaned back. "I...don't think so."

Betty sat down near them. "Why is it important? I can check."

With a frown, Jon looked down at his hands. "There was that Ancient in the ice, what's her name, Aiyana, right? She was froze and just woke up when she thawed out enough."

Betty's eyebrows climbed. "What happened to her?"

Jon made a face. "She got the whole research team sick and then she tried to heal us and died after."

Phil tapped his fingers on the table. "I wonder if Rogers had it before the serum..." He stood up. "Thank you for the help, sir."

Jon and Betty watched him leave.

Betty patted Jon's arm. "Life sucks sometimes. You want some coffee?"

Jon snorted. "Sure."

* * *

Hanna sighed as Thor sat down next to her. "I should be sorry that I left your floor without permission, but I'm not."

Thor brushed his hand down the back of her head to cup her tiny shoulder. "You are affected by the collective worry. That is what the Son of Coul has told me."

Hanna nodded. "Everyone is upset." She looked up at him. "Even you."

Thor looked surprised. "I had thought your ability would not work on an Asgardian."

Hanna looked up at him and scrunched up her face before shaking her head. "It isn't the same. I can't _be_ you like I can Steve or Natasha. You are more..." She frowned. "Distant? It just isn't the same feeling."

Thor nodded. "I am versed in mental shielding for defense against some magics. It is possible this interferes with your birthright."

"Maybe." Hanna crawled over and snuggled against Thor's side. "No one is going to let Raines come for me, are they?"

Thor cradled her close. "No, little one. If he should try there will be all of the Avengers in his way." Thor kissed the top of her head. "Though, I believe that he will not live to see the morrow so it is no consequence."

Hanna tucked her hands into the folds of his shirt and hung on as she closed her eyes. "Make sure Natasha knows she can come home even if she's still thinking about blood." She yawned. "Francis, Dad, and I don't mind."

Thor made a small rumbling sound in his chest to help her drift off. He held her close as he rose. "Sir JARVIS, would you kindly inform Lady Natasha of Lady Hanna's request she return to the Tower when her work is done."

"Of course, Prince Odinson."

* * *

Francis woke to find Clint sprawled partway across the bed from where he was sitting in the chair beside the bed. Behind him, Tony was working on a tablet. "Thank you."

Tony glanced at him. "For what?"

Francis yawned and rubbed his eye. "Oh. You wanted me near you so I'm not supposed to thank you for letting me sleep here." He cocked his head. "Is that proper social behavior or just your proper?"

Tony grinned and turned the tablet so Francis could see what he was doing. "Mostly me. Here, take a look."

Francis looked over the modified floor plans. "Why do you think the little you will want share Natasha's floor?"

"JARVIS said he's decided on Eddie." Tony expanded the layout. "If the evil doctor got enough about mini-me right he's not going to feel safe around adult males for a while." Tony poked at the tablet. "Maybe around Steve, but that's just because of the spangley stuff."

Francis frowned. "It's because you thought Captain America would rescue you." He looked up at Tony and his hunched shoulders. "Sorry."

Tony shrugged. "Nothing to be sorry for, Francis. You didn't make me idolize someone to the point wishing I'd never been born." Tony smiled wide and changed the program on the tablet. "I grew out of it."

"No, you didn't." Francis climbed into Tony's lap and carefully laid his hands on either side of Tony's arc reactor. "You find fault with him because it hurts how much you just want to be near him."

Tony froze and stared.

"You hoped remaking yourself into a superhero would help the bottomless helpless feeling you get, but it just made you feel guilty that you might be faking." Francis patted Tony's chest with one hand. "He think he's a fraud now, you know. He feels like everything is closing in on him and is going to just eat him alive."

Tony blinked and gently wrapped his hands around Francis' shoulders. "Francis..."

"And Steve feels guilty about Bruce's situation because if he'd just been faster they would have had the proper serum to reproduce instead of having to go from notes. Which would mean a whole different life for Bruce because General Ross would have been busy instead of desperate."

Tony gently shook Francis. "Hey!"

Francis blinked and buried his face in Tony's shoulder. "Don't tell anyone! I didn't mean to."

Tony used the rubbing technique Bruce had shown him to rub Francis' back to help him slow down his breathing. "I won't tell on you, Francis."

* * *

Clint waited until Francis was breathing slow and steady to lift his head. "I won't tell on you either, you know."

Tony rolled his eyes. "You've been me, you get it." He frowned. "What do you think about me and him talking? Bad idea?"

Clint stretched his arms. "I think it is good. You feeling better?"

"Did you feel like everything fell out from under you when you frist knew about him?" Tony pointed with his chin at Francis laid out across his chest.

Clint stretched out each hand in turn. "I...Sort of. I had resigned myself to the idea they'd try to reproduce me at some point so I just decided to think of him as my kid along side Hanna. It helped."

Tony blinked. "Uh. That'd work."

"What?"

Tony pulled the tablet to himself by his fingertips and started tapping on it. "Eddie. At some point there will be speculation about him. He looks exactly like I did." He looked at Clint. "That's how we explain the clinics when someone finally connects us with the destruction."

"Uh." Clint twisted to each side to stretch his back. "Makes sense. You're known for you over-the-top reactions. Your kid, made for blackmail purposes, by the company behind the clinics."

"I usually let Pepper take care of the details." Tony ran a hand through his hair. "You blew the air duct just to get in."

Clint smiled. "Not to get in. To get to you because you needed someone beside you."

"Oh." Tony blinked. "Team thing?"

"Close enough." Clint reached in and gently picked up Francis. "Come on. Let's go freak you out with the little you."

"Eddie." Tony touched his arc reactor. "He's his own person."

Clint touched Tony's shoulder. "I know. Trust me, I know." He hitched Francis a little higher on his hip.

* * *

Eddie had checked every date he could find in the room they'd put him in. He'd run his fingers over all the sleek technology around him. It was all much better than Raines had ever let him have. Eddie found a little handheld board that reoriented itself when turned around.

Eddie tucked it under one arm as he stared at the doorknob. "Lying. Not lying." He pressed his lips together and reached for the knob. It turned easily and Eddie froze with it partway turned.

From the other side of the door came a voice, "You can come out or stay inside. Whichever."

Eddie let go of the knob like it was on fire. "You are lying!"

The door eased open and Steve's face appeared in the opening. "No, Eddie, I'm not lying."

Backing away, Eddie shook his head. "You are! Everyone..." He stopped to catch his breath where it was trying to go too fast. He'd be beaten for it if he couldn't slow it down.

Above Steve another face appeared. "Hey. I, uh...Uhm. Hi, Eddie, right?"

Eddie blinked and nodded as he tried to catch his breath.

"I'm, uh, the original." The guy scrunched up his nose. "Tony Stark." He pushed on Steve with his leg. "Move, Capsicle. I want to talk to Eddie."

Steve smiled at Eddie and moved out of the way. Tony came in and pulled the door closed so it was just the two of them.

"I don't know what the asshole that had you told you, so I can't just point at something and say, yep, I'm really Tony." He settled cross-legged on the floor. "Best I can do is drop a little bit of blood into an analyzer and show you the DNA pattern is the same as yours." He cocked his head. "Probably the same, might be some damage on mine from some poisoning when I was still figuring out my arc reactor issues."

Eddie took his handheld board from under his arm and held it up. "What is this called?"

Tony's eyebrows went up. "A tablet. That one is a StarkTab, but there's other inferior ones out in the world."

Eddie put in down in front of himself and looked up at Tony. "What colors do you like?"

"Red and gold." Tony put his chin on his hands. "You want to fly?"

Eddie nodded. "You like lima beans?"

Tony stuck out his tongue. "Horrid things. I like hominy, though."

"White or yellow?"

"Both mixed together."

Eddie relaxed a little bit. "What are you going to do with me now?"

Tony shrugged. "We'll tell the world you're my long lost kid that was kidnapped. You'll learn whatever you want and go on to be whatever you want to be. I don't expect you to run the company if you don't want. That's it."

Eddie leaned forward and wrapped his arms around himself. "I...I want Bruce near me." He looked up uncertainly. "Is that okay?"

"Sure, it is." Tony put his arms down to clasp his hands in front of himself. "Bruce is awesome. He's likely to worry around you because he can turn into a really big green guy called Hulk."

Eddie blinked. "Really?"

Tony nodded and smiled. "It is awesome to see. He's all uptight about it, so you probably shouldn't ask him to change or anything."

"How did Captain America survive?"

Tony cocked his head. "He froze after the plane sank. I think he probably was awake enough to remember drowning, given how he doesn't like water...Anyway, he was found and they started to thaw him out. He freaked them out when they realized he was alive. Best anyone can figure is that the serum made him so he can hibernate like those frogs that can freeze solid and then wake back up in the spring."

"Oh." Eddie rubbed his fingers along his forearms. "I scared him."

"I think you scared everybody." Tony sighed. "Look, Eddie, it's going to take time for you to _know_ that you are as safe here as I can make you." Tony spread his hands. "I wish I could take it all back and give you a good childhood instead of whatever that asshole twisted what he could find of mine into."

Eddie scooted forward and took ahold of Tony's pant leg. "Can I?"

Tony shifted his leg out from under himself. "Sure."

Eddie pushed up the pant leg and the sock down and ran his fingertip along a faint line going around the ankle. He looked up at Tony. "What's the red head lady's name?"

"Normally? Natasha." Tony pulled his pant leg back into place. "I thought you might like a room for yourself on her floor."

Eddie reached back and pulled the tablet forward. "Can...can I stay with you?"

Tony opened his mouth, closed it, and turned towards the door. "Uh, I..."

Steve opened the door a little. "He means, yes, Eddie."

Tony rolled his eyes. "Yes, Eddie, you can stay with me."


	41. Brewing Trouble

Natasha sat down at the kitchen table and spread her nail polish bottles around herself. She poured water into a small cup and looked over her various colors. "You can come in."

Eddie eased through the door and glanced back at Bruce sitting on the couch by the chicks before turning towards Natasha. "What are you doing?"

"I have a mission to go on and I need to look very put together for it." She pulled out the chair next to herself. "Bruce! Come in and sit with us."

Eddie climbed up into the chair as Bruce appeared in the doorway.

Natasha smiled at him. "If I've brown hair which polish will look good on me?"

Bruce eyed her as he sat down across from them. "The dark green?"

Eddie poked the side of the cup of water. "Why do you have this?"

"I'm going to do water marbling." Natasha opened her white polish and started painting her nails. She looked at Bruce through her eyelashes. "Are you alright?"

Bruce shrugged. "Just working on something in my head."

She nodded and pushed her collection of bottles closer to Eddie. "Pick two that will go with the green."

Eddie frowned as he studied each bottle.

Coulson came in from the hallway. "Fury briefed you?"

Natasha smiled at him. "Yes. Did he corner Peggy yet?"

"She's evading him." Phil poured himself a cup of coffee.

Eddie pushed a shimmery gold and a creamy white to Natasha's elbow. "What about these?"

"Good choices." Natasha finished putting the white base color on. "Coulson, what do you think of the threat level in Gotham?"

Bruce looked from one to the other. "Gotham?"

Natasha glanced at him before turning in her chair to look at Phil, who shrugged. She huffed and turned back to Bruce. "There's some intel that suggests there might be a problem developing."

Coulson sat down across from Eddie, next to Bruce. "Clint is going to Asia to check some connections. There was a death several months ago that, well, I think it was too convenient. There's no evidence of a switch out, but..."

Natasha rolled her eyes. "The plane brunt too hot for good evidence. I still say that's where he was grabbed if he was taken."

Bruce cocked his head as he watched Natasha drip drops of nail polish into the water in her cup. "Is this a death that was in the news or something still very classified?"

"Dr. Leonid Pavel."

Bruce leaned back in his chair. "He was a nuclear physicist."

Eddie leaned forward to watch Natasha drag a toothpick through the polish to make a pattern. "If he's not dead is that bad?"

Phil tapped his fingers on his cup of coffee. "It could be."

Natasha dipped her nail into the water and used a toothpick to pick up the rest of the polish from the surface of the water. "That's why we are going to check into it."

Eddie's eyes went wide as Natasha pulled her finger from the water and turned it to show him the pattern of polish on her nail. "That's awesome." He poked the side of the water cup. "It is just water in the cup?"

"Yes." Natasha started dripping in more polish to do another nail.

* * *

Jack flopped down next to his mother. "How is it I can make my own life difficult and I didn't even try that hard?"

Peggy smiled at him before looking back down at the report in her hand. "You have talent, dear." She sighed. "I take it you were told about the possible connection between the Pretender gene and the ATA gene?"

"Yeah." Jack picked up a file and fidgeted with it. "One of my former teammates, Sam Carter is going to compare data with what they've got here. She'll be able to tell if we're really dealing with the same gene."

"You think we are, don't you?"

Jack put his feet up on the coffee table. "It makes a certain amount of sense. It explains why we've got holes in the expected ages. I think if we can get the ATA gene holders to talk about it we'll probably find more Pretender traits in them."

Peggy took the file Jack was fidgeting with and replaced it with a different file. "You're going to ruin your lovely little dumb act if you admit to Pretender traits."

Jack shrugged. "Everyone that needs to be fooled will still be fooled. Enemies never think past the end of their noses."

"Hmmm." Peggy compared files. "As long as you aren't fooled, dear."

* * *

Hanna held Thor's hand as Phil shifted the chicks from the box they used to carry them into the coop's fenced in yard. "They'll be okay, right?"

Thor picked her up and put his hand on Francis' shoulder. "They will be well. The Captain's work as insured their safety."

Francis looked up at Thor. "You're talking about Steve, right?"

Thor smiled. "Yes."

Francis nodded and watched the chicks explore. "Is there some way to thank him?"

Phil latched the fence door, and looked over the wires that formed the mess on the top of the enclosure for the chicks' yard. "I think I know something you can make him."

* * *

Tony looked up as Bruce carried Eddie into the workshop. "How's it going, Big Guy?"

Bruce frowned at the glass of liquor on the end of Tony's desk. "Okay, I guess." He settled Eddie on the couch and covered him with a blanket before turning to look at Tony. "What about you?"

Tony shrugged. "I'm fine."

"Sure." Bruce sat down next to Tony. "Are you working on Natasha's weapon?"

"Widow's Bite, yeah." Tony shifted the design. "I've fallen behind."

Bruce scratched his head. "No one is going to blame you, Tony. It has been a little crazy around here."

Tony flicked the design away and pulled up a different file. "Yeah, well..."

"No. Stop for a little while." Bruce touched Tony's shoulder. "You need food. Come on."

* * *

Eddie watched silently as everyone settled onto the huge pile of cushions and blankets. He watched Hanna flop onto Tony's legs and Francis snug himself down between Steve and Tony. Eddie stayed near Bruce at the edge of the huge pile. "I don't understand."

Hanna smiled at him. "We're going to watch a movie together." She pointed at the pile. "You have to sit."

Phil lifted him up onto the edge of the pile. "You can stay here on the edge if you'd rather."

Eddie looked to Bruce. "Okay?"

Bruce smiled. "Yes, Eddie."

Thor came from the kitchen. "I have conquered the battle to create popped corn."

Tony leaned back to see Thor around Bruce's back. "You didn't fry the microwave with Mjolnir, did you?"

Thor sat down bowls of popcorn amongst the group. "I did not do battle with the food, Tony. I only conquered the way of making the popped corn correctly."

Hanna sniffed a piece and then tried it.

Eddie poked a finger into the bowl nearest him. "What is it?"

Francis took a big handful. "It's popcorn. You eat it while watching movies." He leaned into Steve's side. "Clint and Natasha are okay, right?"

Steve glanced at Phil and then looked down at Francis. "As far as I know they are fine. Clint is probably still on a plane and Natasha is in another city."

Phil sat down near Eddie. "Natasha is attending a gala in a few days to get a feel for the distribution of power in the city. We should be able to catch a glimpse of her in the coverage for that."

Eddie nodded. "She'll have brown hair."

Hanna touched her own hair. "She said it would wash away and be red again later."

"That's right." Phil blinked as Thor sat down next to him. "Her natural color is a statement she can't always afford to make."

Tony snorted. "She's incapable of not making some sort of statement." He leaned forward to talk to Eddie. "She stabbed me in the neck once."

Phil rolled his eyes. "She was trying to help you."

"Stabbed."

"I could get out my taser, Stark."

Tony beamed. "Just for that you don't get to pick the movie."

Steve shook his head. "We already decided on BFG. Which I'm assuming stands for something?"

Phil turned to stare at Tony. "Really? I didn't think many people knew about that one."

Tony shrugged. "I don't know it either. It was Bruce's idea."

Bruce wrung his hands. "We don't have to..."

"No, no." Steve shook his head. "I just don't know what it stands for. I wasn't criticizing the choice."

"It stands for Big Friendly Giant." Bruce smiled. "It has always made me smile."


	42. Presents and Sadness

Jon hugged Daniel as he and Samantha Carter emerged from the elevator. "Daniel." He held on for a moment to remind himself of the friend he'd had in Daniel. Then he let go and wrapped one arm around Sam's shoulders. He remembered she felt uncomfortable with men just hugging her out of no where. "I hear you managed to not blow up your command. Good job, Carter."

She rolled her eyes as she gently pulled out of his hold. "Yes, sir."

Jon huffed and watched Daniel stare around himself. "Lose the sir, Carter. I'm not him. I haven't been for a long time now."

She frowned and moved towards the desk along the far wall. "Uh, sorry. Force of habit, uhm, Jon."

He nodded, because he knew how that felt. "So. What did you geniuses decide?"

Daniel crossed his arms. "Uh, well, there's a problem."

Jon grimaced. "There's always a problem. What is it?"

Sam brought up reports, graphs, numbers, lists. Jon tried to ignore it because he didn't need it all rearrange itself in his head without his permission.

Daniel pointed at one of the graphs. "They are the same gene for the people like you or Sheppard with the full gene."

Sam waved her hand at another graph. "The people that have or had the recessive version of the ATA don't show the blood marker that Pretender gene holders do."

Jon squinted at the graphs. "What about people like McKay that took the gene therapy to activate the ATA gene so they could do stuff like fly Jumpers?"

Daniel sighed. "Well, that's where it gets weird. They show the blood anomaly, which we now think is what the Ancient tech is checking for. They don't show the empathy or borderline telepathy."

"It isn't telepathy, Daniel." Jon poked at the graphs. "So the Centre wouldn't have picked up people like McKay because he didn't show the blood thingy they were checking for?"

Sam started to slap his hand and then stopped herself and just rearranged the chart when Jon quit messing with it. "Why didn't we tell you this at the same time as General O'Neill? You're asking the exact same questions."

Jon purposefully flicked a list off into space, but Daniel caught it and put it back at the edge of the workspace. "We don't like each other, Carter."

Daniel gave Jon that sure-whatever look that he liked using so much. "Then there's people like me. I show the blood anomaly, but I don't have the ATA gene at all. I don't fall neatly into any of the groups."

Jon blinked and gripped Daniel's shoulder. "The kids." He left Sam and Daniel staring after him as Jon went to find Stark.

* * *

Bruce looked down at Hanna and Francis staring up at him. Eddie watched from where he was not exactly hiding under Bruce's chair. "You what?"

Tony smiled at him. "Please?"

Bruce frowned at Tony. "Tony, explain to Hanna and Francis why transforming into the other guy isn't a socially acceptable idea."

"I do socially unacceptable things all the time." Tony grinned his media smile for a second before going serious. "Bruce. It is important."

Bruce sighed and leaned over to look down at Eddie. "Stand by Tony, please."

Eddie scrambled out from under Bruce's chair and huddled behind Tony. Bruce stood up, carefully pushed the chair under the desk, and turned towards Tony.

"This is a bad idea, Tony."

Tony spread his arms. "Would I have a bad idea, Bruce?"

Rolling his eyes, Bruce drew a deep breath, on the exhale he let go.

Hulk blinked and smiled without his teeth at the Scared Tiny. No teeth smile meant no mad fight. "Tiny Friends." Hulk rumbled as Hanna and Francis hugged his legs. "Why always ask for Hulk? No like Puny Bruce?"

Tony-from-inside-Spaceman kept one hand on Scared Tiny's head. "No, that's not it at all. Remember how I said Hulk gets a present? They made you a present."

Hulk blinked. "Hulk no have presents. Ever."

Scared Tiny edged around Spaceman-not and touched Hulk's calf. "You broke the law of Conversion of Mass. How did you do that?"

Hulk looked to Tony-inside. "Hulk smash law?"

Tony laughed. "No, no. Eddie means you should be impossible. It isn't a smashable problem."

"Oh." Hulk looked around himself. "Tiny Friends?"

Tony made sit-sit motions. "They are getting your present. Sit down for me, please."

Hulk huffed and dropped to sit on his butt. "Why present?"

Hanna appeared with Francis from around the desk. They held a box between them.

They sat it in front of him and Hulk touched the corner of it with his fingertip. "For Hulk?"

Hanna pressed her hands together. "All for Hulk." She smiled at him. "Not for smashing."

Hulk gingerly pushed the top up and off the box. Inside was not-paper nearly Hulk's skin color. Hulk pushed it around trying to get at what was underneath.

Tony came closer, Eddie following, clinging tight to Tony's side. "Here, Big Guy. Let me help."

Hulk folded his hands together so he couldn't smash the puny not-paper and watched as Tony pulled a red and gold Tiny Friend size not-person from the box. Hulk leaned over to look closely at the not-person.

"It is a teddy bear." Spaceman flapped one of the arms like it was waving. "An Iron Man teddy bear."

Hulk gently took the not-bear-not-person teddy and rubbed his fingers over the head. "Not Spaceman."

Tony-inside smiled up at him. "Sure, that works."

Hulk hugged the Not Spaceman to his chest and blinked, looking down at the Spaceman-bear. "Hulk like warm middle."

Hanna tugged on the knee of Tony's pants. "We didn't make it warm."

Hulk huffed as Tony shook his head. Tony patted Hulk's leg. "No, Hanna, we didn't. He means it makes him feel good."

"Oh." She looked up at him and narrowed her eyes. "Bruce is all worry. You are all happy and not unhappy inside of what did I do wrong now." She glanced at Tony. "That's not feeling good."

Tony looked up at Hulk. "No, but it's getting there."

Hulk frowned and shifted Spaceman-bear to one hand so he could pick up Tony with the other. Scared Tiny scrambled under the desk and watched, wide eyed. Tiny Friends both moved closer. "Tony-inside not okay. Smell wrong bad."

Tony made a face. "Ask before manhandling, okay, Big Guy?"

Hulk rumbled and sat Tony down gently. "No smell, Puny Bruce no shiver worry. Bad smell, Puny Bruce worry." Hulk touched his finger to Tony-inside's tiny flat smell in the center of his chest. "Make bad smell go?"

With a sigh, Tony sat down in the chair Puny Bruce liked best. "I had quit drinking and now I'm drinking some. I'm..." He looked at the various Tiny Ones. "I'm an engineer. A designer." He rubbed the side of his face. "I don't know how to parent. I tell you no math and no tests because forcing you isn't going to help."

Hanna pulled on Eddie and all three gathered around Tony. Hulk watched them with his Spaceman-bear held close.

Tony rubbed his nose. "There's so much to do. I don't..."

Hulk went careful slow and wrapped his arm around them all. "Tony-inside was first...Only person like Hulk as Hulk. No smash." He settled Spaceman-bear into Tony's lap next to Francis. "Tony-inside hide Tony. Tony put on Tony-inside and then put on Spaceman. Spaceman make loud boom noise."

Tony sat there staring up at Hulk.

"Tony hide. Tony afraid all leave, no like Tony." Hulk touched Tony's hair. "Hulk like Spaceman. Even booms. Like Tony-inside." Hulk smiled, careful not to show his teeth. "Hulk very much like Tony. Even bad smell."

Tony buried his face in Spaceman-bear. The Tiny Ones started patting and touching Tony. Hulk rubbed his fingertip across Tony's shoulders.

"Puny Bruce like home. Like Hulk's room." Hulk frowned as Tony's shoulders hitched under his fingertip. "Puny Bruce know Tony is good parent. Better parent than Puny Bruce Father."

Tony leaned back and wiped at his wet face. "Hulk, anyone is a better parent than Bruce's father."

Hulk nodded. "Hulk know." He unwrapped his arm from around them all. "Hulk think Tony just tiny smash. Tony get not-smashed."

With a shaky smile, Tony took Spaceman-bear as Hulk handed it to him. "Thanks. I know you mean that in a non-liquor way."

Hulk snorted. "Take Spaceman-bear to Hulk's room?"

"Sure."

"Good." Hulk touched the top of Spaceman-bear's head. "Hulk tell Bruce help Tony know he not puny parent." He flopped over sideways and closed his eyes.

* * *

Bruce came back to himself hungry and covered in a blanket with kids on all sides. "Oh."

Eddie's face appeared blurry as he stared down at Bruce. "You broke a Law. I like you."

Bruce gave a wary smile. "I'm glad to see you too."

"Hulk names everyone. Hanna said. Do you know what he named me?"

"Uhm." Bruce threw his arm over his eyes. He could feel the material of his pants was still the same, so it had stretched and snapped back just fine. "He thought you were scared so he called you Scared Tiny, I think."

Eddie looked down at himself. "I'm short compared to him. Neat."

"Where's Tony?"

"He took Hulk's present to Hulk's room." Eddie laid down next to Bruce. "Tony is always worried. Like me, but not about the same things. Does he get beaten for it?"

Bruce took his arm away from his face and turned his head to look at Eddie. "No. He doesn't get beaten."

Eddie's shoulders relaxed. "Good." He looked at Bruce from the corner of his eye. "Hulk protects you, right?"

"That's right."

"What do I have to do to get him to protect me, too?"

Bruce lay there, staring at the ceiling for several moments. "You...you don't have to do anything, Eddie."

* * *

Jarod frowned at Jay smoothing his blankets. "What is wrong?"

Jay sighed and sat down on the edge of Jarod's bed. "Raines is dead."

"Oh."

Jay pressed his lips together and then carefully made himself room beside Jarod to lay down. "He was evil, I know that. I never wanted to see him again..."

"And, yet you mourn for him."

"Why?" Jay turned his face away from Jarod. "I know I shouldn't..."

"No, no." Jarod grunted as he shifted to get an arm around Jay. "He raised you until I stumbled onto your existence. You can hate _and_ mourn him."

Jay sniffed hard and pressed his face to Jarod's blanket. "I'm so mad at him. He's dead and I'm still mad."

Jarod hummed as his eyes slipped closed. "That's alright too."

* * *

Steve sat down next to Peggy and watched her read reports for several minutes. "Ma'am..."

"If you are going to tell me off for being happy to help kill Raines, I can and will shoot at you again."

"Oh, ah, no." Steve ran his hands over his knees. "He would have just found another way to hurt someone if he hadn't have been killed. I actually had a thought about Tony and I wanted to know what you thought."

Peggy sat down the report she was on and turned in her seat to face more towards Steve. "What is that?"

"Tony." Steve rubbed his forehead. "He was nearly killed by Obadiah Stane and the public doesn't know that. Tony had to publicly mourn the man that _took_ the arc reactor from his chest."

"You assume Tony mourned the man."

Steve frowned.

Peggy patted him on the forearm. "Your mistake is thinking in a victim mindset. Tony isn't a victim in his own mind. He mourned in public, but I would bet you my nickers that he mourned the loss of a father figure, or trust, or perhaps even the shirt he was wearing when it happened."

"I...hadn't thought of it that way."

"I know." Peggy went back to her reports. "Now quit blushing, soldier." She held out a report to him. "Above all else don't pity him. He survived. That's what matters, Steve."

Steve nodded and took the report as he tried to will down the blush creeping up his ears.


End file.
